Music Business

As plenty of artists have commented when asked about the ‘Music Business’ the standard reply is that the ‘Music’ is fantastic and the ‘Business’ is shit.

Doesn’t seem to be a thread for the ‘Business’ part so starting here

Drug-addled guitar monkeys ripped off by cynical cunts.

What a shocker. I’ve never heard of such a thing.

I mean, weren’t they promised unlimited coke and groupies in exchange for not reading the contract?

Did I miss any important stereotypes there?

I bet this never happened to Roger Whitaker. He was in charge of his own coke and groupie allocation.

And we are expected to believe that the music industry is ‘rattled’ by something that has only happened about a gazillion times before?

Musicians should know their place by now. Make the records, snort the coke, cavort with the hot women while the idle, talentless execs get filthy rich for doing fuck all.

It’s a metaphor for life itself. Were it not so, the accountants would be making the music.

Pah!

With the help of AI this is happening.

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Care to point any fingers? I have no idea, not having knowingly heard any mainstream pop music this century.

Some accountants would say that they have been part of the creative industries for years

Promoters / record industry (Particularly rights, now traded as assets) / magazines / nightclub chains all are very much driven by the accounts dept. Whilst this may appear prudent, the stiffing of creativity is asphyxiating.

During the 60’s and into the 70’s labels would often foster talent, if the first single flopped, no problem we believe in you try again. With the rise of LP’s this thinking was still around.

As an example the Jams debut in the city hit 20 in the UK charts, the reviews were pretty good but with no hit single by today’s standards Polydor would have dropped the band - Weller would have either had to go back to the drawing board or quit the way things are run today…Think about that think about what is being missed when artists are put through the two hit singles and a hit LP criteria for them to be viewed as ‘viable’.

This is one of the many reasons formulaic pop is everywhere - It’s a cancer to expression / art and humanity.

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I know. I was making a joke (creative accountancy). Can’t find face-palm emoji…

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People* like what they are told to like, hence the corporations that can afford to buy exposure for artists get to control what is consumed.

People* also like soothing mediocrity, and consume music as a form of social-anaesthetic, helping them blot-out one-another.

*Most people.

This is the domain of the accountant - When I worked for a label the PR department had 24 staff. When their most ‘viable’ artist had a release 22 of those pluggers were deployed to that release leaving x2 to cover the rest of the entire rosta.

Kind of agree, then again when my wife puts on radio 1 there’s grime artist after grime artist I’ve never heard of so I’d say mediocrity is often a middle aged drug.

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It’s usual to blame accountants for the ills of the world, after-all it’s often true, but a good one is good for everyone in any given business - including employees and customers. The good ones truly understand the whole business - not just their bit, they think long-term, and understand where investment and expenditure is needed. It’s the bad ones that miss those things, lack business insight, cash-grab in a panic, and then just make cuts to try to balance the books.

Sadly there’s a lot of shit ones in every walk of business life.


Grime can be mediocre too. If you’re middle-aged and unsure which grime is mediocre, a handy rule of thumb is to check if it’s being played on Radio 1… :wink:

Very few industry accountants I’ve met have any interest what so ever in music, expression or art. They are concerned with bottom line / short term profiteering.

They don’t believe in music or wish to foster and support it. They wish for major sales, the sale of synced music and ultimately the catalogue to the highest bidder. They also love to cut production costs particularly quality control in everything from vinyl composition to pressing plants to packaging.

Where did Clarofoil go? Where did quality control go? Where did major investment and R&D go? Ask an industry accountant - They are interested in what 13 yr old girls spend their pocket money on and how cheeply they can supply it.

Very Very Few take a risk, back a hunch or go for broke. Combine this with corner cutting, penny pinching and short term 15 minute thinking is why my experiences with them leave me with a decidedly beige and flaccid opinion.

If this is as universal as you suggest (and you clearly know better than I), then it goes a long way to explaining why the music industry continues to constantly fumble and stumble even while awash with money.

Gaga_SADS

In fairness there have been so many ‘maverick’ labels that went tits up. (Mostly down to poor taste, business dumb, unicorn thinking or just bad timing)

The couple I bought my house from had been on the wrong end of the business.
Miller had played Woodstock as part of the Keef Hartley band, played in most formative British Blues bands in one iteration or another, including Chicken Shack and Savoy Browm, been a member of T Rex and the Spencer Davis Group.

I saw in an email from a record shop that a solo album he did in the 70s was being re released…
Miller wrote the songs, played guitar and sang.
I sent a message to his wife and she messaged back that he wouldn’t see a penny from the sales.
She went into a bit of a rant about the ‘Business’ it wasn’t always big labels ripping off the artists there were plenty of middle men managers with deals which included publishing etc.

She once asked me why I thought they were selling me their modest house rather than living in a mansion!

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See Colonel Tom Parker, he took 50% of everything Elvis, merchandising everything. When it comes to cunty the ‘industry’ has it.

Would be good if you found a box of these in the loft

image

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Ha!
No chance :grinning:
He hardly owned any records apart from the 6os and 70s singles in a small juke box (his wife, Fiona’s) they had in the dining room.
He played on loads though, he went along with his mate Ian Hunter when Bowie recorded his own version of All The Young Dudes and ended up playing (uncredited) on the recording.
I found plenty of excuses to come back and view the house (during lockdown) but spent most of them chatting music with Miller.

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A seriously talented chap who was very much in the right place at the right time. It’s just so unfortunate that truly creative people (In all arenas) often don’t poses a bone of business in their bodies. Ironically these days major artists can cut / demand far better deals than those of the 60’s & 70’s. The whole infrastructure of the music industry is studied and refined in virtually every aspect. Industry success from living by your wits and some cheek are well in the rear view mirror

A good few years ago I was asked to deliver a series of lectures to a degree course in music promotion! It was fucking hilarious, universities were charging these kids for 30K for the 3yr course… It’s always money.

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Just checked, It was that album that was re released ( CD 2022) that he got no money for