Advertisement
  • Follow That Grape Juice TV
  • That Grape Juice Facebook
  • That Grape Juice Twitter
  • That Grape Juice YouTube
  • That Grape Juice RSS
Tuesday, June 19th 2012

New Music Seminar : Label Execs Debate ‘Rise Of The Music Business’

GaGa Drake Rihanna New Music Seminar : Label Execs Debate Rise Of The Music Business

Yesterday, New York’s Webstar Hall welcomed a group of the world’s leading record executives for the 2012 New Music Seminar.

Engaging a heated discussion centered around the ‘Rise Of The Music Industry’, their debate saw them outline the various ways the industry has altered its model to accommodate changing trends, ‘consumer laziness’ and their plans to regenerate sales.

Interesting read below…

 Billboard Biz:
“The last ten years we’ve seen the decline of the record business, and now we’re seeing the rise of the music business,” said moderator Amaechi Uzoigwe, head of content and business affairs at Official.fm, at the New Music Seminar Monday.

Much of the panel, titled “Music Labels: The Businesses Formerly Known as ‘Record Companies,’” focused on how the role of labels has changed in the current music industry, and how label owners can expect to fill the new roles created by this fluctuation. 

The panelists, interestingly enough, were split almost down the middle between independent label owners and major label executives — with Ultra’s Patrick Moxey, Epitaph/Anti’s Brett Gurewitz, Rostrum’s Benjy Grinberg, and Beggars Group’s Martin Mills on one side, with Sony Music’s Dennis Kooker, UMG’s Jon Vanhala, and Warner’s Stephen Bryan on the other, and Merlin CEO Charles Caldas also involved — which made for a sometimes friction-filled discussion, despite the panel’s universal emphasis on the emerging industry’s need for frictionless music services.

As labels re-calibrate their roles in the music industry, changing revenue streams dictate that they serve as more than just the caretaker of recorded music. “I don’t feel that we’re competing with other labels, we’re competing with marketing firms,” said Gurewitz. “Our role is as artist advocate… nobody achieves great success alone. We are the team behind them.”  

Part of that comes from tackling different income streams, be they merchandising, licensing synchs, or targeted marketing to embrace the many different technology companies that provide varied methods of access to consumers. “With new technology, consumers have more options, more targeted offerings, and more opportunities [to consume music],” said Bryan. 

“People are lazy, they’ll pay for convenience, and if you can give them the easiest way possible [to access music], they’ll do it,” added Caldas.


All roads led back to reducing the number of steps between consumers and their music, whether through consolidated global rights organizations, simplifying the music licensing process, or finding ways to take ad-supported access models and using them to upgrade consumers to premium, monetized services. 

“Access models grow the pie for everyone,” said Vanhala. “There are more consumers of music this second than there ever have been… As we move those people into frictionless models, it benefits all of us.” 

Ultra Music’s Patrick Moxey noted that his label has successfully increased its YouTube revenues, which have gone from mere pennies to a seven-figure income source with the label’s channel now getting some 1.8 billion views. Ultra Music, he added, is in the process of producing original video content based on his label’s EDM lifestyle and that one of the writers pens scripts for “CSI.” 

As the playbook for labels has changed, so has the role of the artist in the industry. “Artists today are more powerful than ever,” said Grinberg, noting how Mac Miller’s Blue Slide Park debuted at No. 1 with very little traditional radio or other marketing. “They are business people, marketers… They know how to relate to their audience and know how to connect properly.” 

Beggars’ Mills made the point that different independent labels have different connotations and signing with Gurewitz’s Epitaph, for example, is not the same as signing with Matador records (which operates under Mills’ Beggars Group umbrella). Artists need to be aware of which indie labels do what best before signing a deal. 


And with today’s artists having more options than ever of how to release their music, Grinberg said, the old “archaic” record contracts are binge tossed aside in favor of a more egalitarian split — and with digital platforms becoming ubiquitous, the differences between major labels and indies will be reduced.

Yet the role of the label — as a support structure and a team helping an artist achieve success — will not be going away. 

“The power is with the artist,” he said, “but the infrastructure and guidance [of a label] is still important.”

Raising a number of valid points, it’s interesting to catch a brief glimpse into the minds of the powers that be.

With regards to ‘consumer laziness’, it’s safe to say that the ‘lazy’ is more of a universal affair- with labels and their acts failing to push products worthy of anyone’s hard earned $10.

For, instead of A&R departments taking their time to scout and season acts as they did in the past, they’ve become guilty of shortsightedness, following trends instead of setting them.

Forcing fresh faces out into the public without the benefit of artist development and a clear cut strategy.

Strategy, that gives room for acts to develop their sound, farm a loyal fan base who should (if the act is consistent) put their money where their mouths are come album release date.

This being the reason Drake can command 700k first week at full price, outselling acts twice as recognizable as he is on a domestic and international front.

Your thoughts?

Posted By:

27 Comments

27 COMMENTS

Connect with:

Leave a Reply

More Juice
CHOOSE A THATGRAPEJUICE FEED

RSS ThatGrapeJuice.TV