Money Matters

by John Davidson
23 November 2005

Everyone hates the music industry, at least according to Forrester Research. We may love the music, we may love the musicians. But we really, really, don’t like the business of music. And maybe that’s part of the innate appeal of popular music: a rebellion against conformity.

But the focus of this blog isn’t to resolve the alleged conflict between art and commerce. Rather, we’re going to spend time trying to explain the commerce part, or at least put it into perspective. We’re going to show that much of major labels’ corporate behavior is not unique to the industry but is in fact common. We’re going to explore the ramifications of an industry under seige, and how corporate culture will influence the response. We’re going to shine a light on the fundamentals in hopes of revealing better solutions not only for the major labels, but for the indies as well. As DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE’s BEN GIBBARD recently noted in the Washington Post, “the indie rock/indie label thing has been kind of lionized into being something a lot more pure than it can be at times . . . I have far more friends who have been screwed out of money on indie labels than have been screwed out of money on majors. Bad business is bad business no matter where it is.”

And good business is good business no matter where it is. We just hope that it follows good music.

Filed under blog intro music industry