Behind the Music - A Reaction

Fascinating documentary. True stories from the trenches, told by major artists. Go out and buy this DVD. Through interviews with current and former top artists, from Dave Mathews to Michael Penn, the show describes the perfect storm of a major label oligopoly, radio station consolidation, and youth-obsessed culture which has rained down five hundred AM/FM, satellite, and cable channels of crap music upon us hapless consumers. The most damning evidence is the 10-minute segment whereby the producers toss out a title to a veteran songwriter, paired with a buxom but talentless 17-year old model, mix it with a seasoned producer, and voila! Instant pop hit. This alone is worth the price of the DVD.

But after all this, what’s the producers’ conclusion?

“Shame on the record industry for promoting shallow, no-talent artists, and shame on you, the buying public, for not recognizing great music. Appreciate music and musicians, and don’t pirate their stuff. Otherwise, they’ll give up and quit, and serious music will die. Dammit.”

Weak. And untrue.

First of all, musicians will always make music, paid or not, because there are psychic rewards beyond money. That’s easily demonstrated by the millions of people around the world who continue to (essentially) play for free, even when they probably should be getting paid (such as those musicians that showcase here in Austin at SXSW every year).

Moreover, the message comes across as a scolding, not only of the business tactics of major labels, but also the behavior of fans. Of fans! The filmmakers browbeat the average music fan (the “brainless” 16 year old pop fanatics, who- oh, by the way- spend tens of millions of dollars on music purchases) into feeling that their taste is crap because Jessica Simpson is a superstar, and Doyle Bramhall isn’t. Well, excuse me, guys, but if you want to complain about a lack of appreciation for “serious” music, go spend a few hours with your average classically-trained musician. You can probably find them teaching junior high band, or working as a data entry clerk in an insurance company. Those guys don’t even get groupies!

In several places, B4MD’s producers, and the musicians they interviewed, complained about being entitled to certain royalty percentages, freedom from contracts (like Prince’s campaign against Warner Bros.), or that fans should behave in a certain way. Apparently, they are as entrenched in the old business model as the very record labels they complain about.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m an artist. I danced with the major labels. I believe that artists should be paid for their work, if they choose to charge. I just don’t think that they are entitled to be paid, any more than a house painter, a television anchorman, or, uh, a blogger.

Value-added entertainment
What so many musicians forget is that, even in a digital world, the basic rules of business still apply. What ultimately determines whether or not they get paid is this: Do they add value?

“WTF?!? That sounds like Peter Drucker-ish corporate mumbo-jumob, Curtis!” I hear you say. You’re right. Except that it pre-dates Drucker just a bit.

Glass houses
Does that mean music fans should steal songs from their favorite bands, using P2P networks, or burning CD or MP3 copies for their friends? Well, technically, no. Neither should the bands making the music be pirating copies of digital recording software to record their albums, or Adobe Photoshop to make their poster art, or Microsoft Windows to run their computers, or sampling previously recorded songs to mix into their tunes, or using Web images or layouts to build their Web sites, or stealing a riff from that obscure 1970s tune that no one remembers anymore, or… well, you get the idea.

The point is, these things will happen, because it represents the path of least resistance for most people. The challenge in the new digital economy is no longer leveraging production, but leveraging distribution. Adam Smith would have called this a shift in the value proposition to music consumers: It’s so easy to make and distribute music, that there’s less reason for a music fan to buy music. They can now make their own! (YouTube has forced the same paradigm-shift on the film industry.) Economists would say that the marginal costs of music are zero, and price will inevitably be driven to the marginal cost.

Wal-Mart-ization of Music: Were you surprised it would happen?
Consolidation happens in every industry, in every part of the world. It’s how companies achieve economies of scale. It increases the bottom line. Record companies have been swallowing each other like fish in a bowl since the very beginning. It’s the only reason the major labels ever became “major”.

We can’t demand our “artist entitlements” and whine about “corporate greed” on one hand, while sipping a Starbuck’s latte from the other, and shopping at Wal-Mart. And the very fame and entitlements that B4MD artists seek are themselves a result of the ruthless corporate efficiency of the major labels.

In that sense, protesting against the self-serving machinations of the music industry is really like protesting against the economics of capitalism itself (or at least they way it’s practiced in America). Without those economies of scale that consolidation affords, most artists would never experience the superstardom of icons like Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, or, yes, even Jessica Simpson. And let’s face it, most of us who want to make a living playing music would give our left nut for a shot at that brass ring.

Wishful thinking is not enough
It’s not enough to try and shame music fans into doing what you want them to do. Artists who want to make a living at music need better, more specific advice. Here it is: take responsibility for your own career and success. Build your band’s brand and business from the ground up, just as you would a widget factory or a donut shop.

Bands like Dave Mathews, Hootie and the Blowfish (remember them?), Widespread Panic, and Ani DiFranco had great success by building a strong grassroots following. Sure enough, once those groups sold 50,000 units, the major labels came calling. WP and DiFranco told the labels to shove it, but Hootie and Dave negotiated lucrative deals on their own terms, because they didn’t need the money.

Because they didn’t need the deal, they had leverage, and could renegotiate the contract. They offered value to the record labels: a guaranteed audience for their music. That’s money the labels can immediately recoup on their next release, and money they don’t have to spend to publicize the band.

What kind of value are you offering?

If your answer started with “Uh…”, chances are its probably not very much. This gives you no leverage, so if you want a major label deal, be prepared to sign whatever contract they put in front of you.

Independent as a position
Ironically, being self-sufficient gives you both a very powerful financial position, and marketing position. The “self-made band” image plays well with fans, particularly college-aged fans who prefer to dig bands out of the mire of the Internet than to accept the latest radio pablam (Death Cab for Cutie comes to mind).

Hire a good lawyer
Don’t forget to hire a good lawyer and accountant, while you’re at it. If you want to avoid getting “screwed” by a record company, or anyone else, make sure you understand the contract, and hold them to it. Don’t expect that you as an artist are entitled to anything, other than what is legally and contractually guaranteed to you.

Unless you’re prepared to live with the deal, don’t sign it. I didn’t. It probably cost me a shot at that brass ring, but neither did I have to change my name to “symbol” and walk around with the word “SLAVE” tattooed across my face.

Recognize
Understand the value of your music in your resource mix: it's a loss leader, not a cash cow. It's the milk shake that brings the boys to your yard. Whether you profit from them after that depends on your business savvy, not your musical ability.

We’re all just fools, here
When musicians carry on about their entitlements being taken away, we really should remember that the music biz as we know it has only been around for about 75 years. Before that, people played music for fun. Imagine that!