What does it mean to support an artist or band? Most people will say it means that you listen to their music, but it means much more than that. Supporting someone is meant to include financial means as well. This is why we sell music, rather than just give it away, but if you look at the industry you’ll see that prices have actually been cut dramatically from what they use to be. At one point CD’s were around $20, the current rate is closer to $10, and chances are good that in the next few years the price will drop once again.
What does this mean for consumers? Obviously, cheaper prices should equal higher sales rates, a trend that has been proven with each price drop. As the cost goes down, more people are willing to pay for the product, but this is only a limited solution as people begin again to decide that it isn’t worth it to them, to spend the money for something they can get far too easily for free online. And to a point, who can really blame them with the state of our economy? People are driven to find ways of saving money, and if at all possible, we won’t spend any at all if we can just get it for free. But, what then, does this mean to the industry? Despite what the mainstream public believes, the music industry is in dire straits. The vast majority of things you see in videos or hear about in songs are not real. We don’t all have mansions and 12 cars, and the few of us who do only have these things because of decades worth of industry experience, and pure dumb luck. For the rest of us, we are looking at costly rentals for staging purposes. In short, props to make us look good. Our biggest problem is piracy, something I’m ashamed to say at one point or another, I participated in. I still know several members of the industry who choose to pirate their music, rather than pay for it, as if working in the industry they rob justifies their actions. The industry is built in a way that can accept a few minor acts of piracy, for example, burning a “mix tape” with a few songs from different artists and giving it to a friend spreads interest in a band and hopefully encourages those others to go buy the rest of the album. What we are not made to accept, however, is full out theft. With a click of a button, you can download an artist’s entire discography online, and some artists will actually encourage you to do so, but for those who do not, you are robbing them of what little funds they receive. Even the albums you buy directly from an artist at a concert aren’t really going to the bands wallets, since they had to buy their own albums to sell from the label. And the albums you buy from stores? Many stores take plenty for themselves as well, meaning the labels don’t get full value. It costs a great deal of money to record an album, and more often than not an artist will not receive a single penny from the label until the full recording costs have been returned via sales. For a new artist who is attempting to move on to a second album, or even just push the sale of their first, this can essentially mean poverty if things go badly. We can’t afford a risk like that, so as stated above, we may lower prices to boost sales, but at that point, there has already been damage done and the sale price is not all that is cut. For consumers, this part specifically means lower quality recordings, and fewer truly good songs. Universal Music Group is expected to lay off employees this week, something that was already done several times last year. This is a huge problem because UMG is still the most successful out of the top four labels, so just imagine what it must have been like for the other companies. The industry has to be able to make up the difference. It has been estimated that within the next twenty years, music may not be sold at all. It will simply be a promotional item to push the sale of other band related merchandise, shirts, perfume, etc. and chances are good not even those products will continue to be good quality if we can’t even sell them.
So, who can blame consumers for not wanting to pay for something that could be free? We often use that phrase to justify an act, not because we can’t answer the question, but because in the end, we’d rather not. The answer is simple though. Those of us with a stake in the industry, those of us who have grown up knowing exactly how important music is and what it means to the world, can and will blame you. Piracy has been around far longer than the problems with our economy, so as an excuse, it doesn’t make it right in the least. Or perhaps, the better question becomes this, what does it mean to NOT support your favorite bands? It means fewer albums available in the market, if you don’t believe me visit your local Best Buy or just about any other store where music isn’t their main product. It means what few albums you can get will not be worth a darn quality-wise. Especially thanks to the current economy, it means higher un-employment for those of us who were formerly in the industry. And most importantly, it means that music won’t be music anymore; it will be nothing but a front for an alternate marketing campaign.
Please, if you are a member of the industry and want to share your story, or anything else you have to say, you can join the Knightengale Lounge here:
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