The post below was sent to a neo-music-business discussion group I was a member of at the time. It explains why I think both Hypetree.com and Pledgemusic.com could potentially fail to serve the listening public and the music making community alike. When founding Radian Records, Lola Johnson and I were fully cognizant that there was no way to succeed in a numbers game. We had to just keep making the best records we can, and hope that the quality will shine through the noise floor. – AF 2013
May 7th, 2009
I agree.. but look a little deeper. Allow me to generalize..
Indie artists are encouraged to be successful by the lack of musicality in
the mainstream. ”If they can do it, we can do it”.
Meanwhile, the “big 4″ (or 3.5? ..I stopped keeping track) are scapegoating delivery models for the failure of their business, and have abandoned content development altogether, or left it up to artists themselves.
I’m assuming most of the people on this list are not waiting for a “big label deal” to get on with their lives..
While we are teetering on this unique moment to check RIAA and NARAS hegemony, and build a new record business, what would be excellent IMHO is some kind of gentle FILTERING system from within this new record business..
to keep eachother (and the RIAA) from saturating the market with 2nd rate projects that don’t inspire fans. (or from allowing SXSW to balloon into CMJ gluttony).. [Update: Dave Grohl said what needed to be said, nice]
Why is this needed from within? Because, we all LOVE the artists we believe
in, whether or not they have perfected their sound, songwriting, or delivery. We need perspective from our peers, to keep eachother in check, and inspire eachother to improve.. a sort of constructive quality control that the Grammy’s has never provided. Publicity firms, sonicbids, the orchard don’t do it, because their models encourage an infinitely long tail. and civilians cannot be trusted to provide helpful direction…[that last bit about civilians was poorly written, apologies. I meant that Doctors don't take votes from the viewers of St. Elsewhere to figure out how to approach the latest innovation in brain surgery, last I heard. Emotional feedback from the listening public is obviously important, and focus groups are one thing. But companies usually develop a product before hiring focus groups to gain perspective] The playing field is so leveled now, that we’re not propping up those of us who are really killing it, like Gabe Dixon Band eg…
Compare:
http://news.google.com/news?um=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=beyonce
and contrast:
http://news.google.com/news?um=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=gabe+dixon+band
Andrew Felluss
www.radianrecords.com
www.artistsagainstapartheid.org
www.epnyc.org
212.727.8055
Conclusion: TBD
