“Nine Inch Nails @ Independent Days Festival 2007″ by Annalisa CalifanoIt’s 1957 and EMI is a primarily British record label when it decides to buy Capital Records based in the United States. George Martin, an A&R representative for EMI at the time comes across a little known band from Liverpool, England called The Beatles.  While The Beatles went on to be the best selling music group in rock and roll history, EMI also broke other music legends including Pink Floyd, Elvis Presley and The Beach Boys to name a few.1

EMI along with many other labels across the musical spectrum were working to make smart business decisions such as working with bands they thought held potential. This involved spending the time and money throughout the years to mold artists and build a solid career based on the interests of that artist.  Many labels took these kinds of chances throughout history to build some of the most influential and legendary artists to date.2

In the mid 1980s a genre known as grunge rock was developing in Seattle, Washington.  Long hair, flannel and loud aggressive rock and roll became a main facet in music pop-culture and also paved the way for modern rock.  Sub Pop, an independent label based in Seattle was discovering acts including Nirvana and sparking an alternative rock surge of the 1990s.

Today, there is a different dynamic working within the music industry. There once was a time where dozens of record labels on both independent and corporate levels were developing talent. There was a need to allow an artist to grow and sign a multi-record contract to one day find that hit album several records deep if necessary.  That vision no longer exists in the music industry.  Music is and always has been a business and a way to make large amounts of money. However, now there exists an unequal balance between the music and the business.  Instead, the business is shaping the music instead of the other way around.  As a result, artists taking matters into their own hands.3

RAQ performs at Higher Ground on February 8, 2007 in Burlington, Vt. While the jam band culture of Burlington is beneficial to RAQ, the group takes its live show across the nation. Guitarist Chris Michetti attributes the success of RAQ’s nationwide tours partly to online distribution and promotion of the group’s music. Photo by Jon Stewart

“The labels will try to spend the next years making money on backed catalogs, merging of indie and corporate.  Artist’s benefit from money of corporate labels under the umbrella of a large company.  But there is a question of how long it will last.  Anything corporate has to sustain a level of growth to satisfy stockholders and the artists don’t mesh with this.  I don’t know how long it can last.” Meredith DiMenna Saunders, Exotic Recordings president

The reason for DiMenna Saunders’ above synopsis of the state of the music industry can be linked to corporate conglomeration of music media.  Before the conglomeration of major record labels, there was Columbia, Epic, Geffen, and RCA to name a few that were working to develop artist careers.  There were smaller groups of people working to break artists, and more importantly, the radio stations were not playing what the labels told them to play.  There was enough of a dynamic in the labels and the genres that were being produced that the radio stations could pick and choose was what the listeners would be savvy to.4

“This shattering of the mainstream into a zillion different cultural shards is something that upsets traditional media and entertainment to no end.  After decades of executives refining their skills in creating, picking and promoting hits, those hits are suddenly not enough. The audience is shifting to something else, a muddy and indistinct proliferation of…well, we don’t have a good term for such non-hits.  They’re certainly not “misses,” because most weren’t aimed at the world domination in the first place.  They’re ‘everything else’… increasingly, the mass market is turning into a mass of niches.”5 Chris Anderson, A Long Tail

There is no question that major labels have the funding and resources to push physical sales, push albums on the radio and promote artists into large arenas.  Media is big money and under the corporate umbrella rains down the funding to drive record labels.6

Keith Saunders (left) and Jon Reid record In the Ballroom in Bridgeport, Conn. Photo courtesy of Exotic Recordings.

The fans have listened to what the record companies have told them to listen to for decades because what one sees on the shelves of the record store was the only way to find out about an artist7. However, this is also because it wasn’t long ago that there were genres, and labels with personality and individuality that the listener could pick and choose from.  There is now a world where the industry pushes whatever it needs to generate revenue.8  As the labels get smaller and smaller, the pressure builds.  Even though the big four labels try to sell what is flashy, sexy and marketable, the public comes equipped with laptops, satellite radio and fully loaded ipods with docking stations in every automobile, home stereo and even back porch grill.  The MP3 and Youtube clip culture are at the forefront for today’s young fans of music.9 The fans are not as naïve as the major labels think they are because such technologies and methods of obtaining alternative, more underground and narrowly tailored media interests are presenting themselves.  There is no question the major labels still have great artists, with big hits and big sales.  There will always be those few breakthrough performances and artists with that one song, or one album that make its way up the corporate ladder and into the radio waves and television screens of every living room around the world.10

Take The Killers for example, who signed with Universal-Island Records after a performance at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City in 2003.11  Shortly after, the group’s debut record Hot Fuss sold six million records, and its sophomore release Sam’s Town sold 700,000 copies in its first week.  With the groups “mix of ‘80s-styled synth pop and fashionista charm,” The Killers were coming out with an innovative sound and style that seemed to catch the appeal of millions.  This proves that there are major labels that are currently making the right choices on bands that are marketable, but most importantly able to make good music.12

Exotic Recordings vice president Keith Saunders works from his home studio in Bridgeport, Conn. Using Pro Tools, a music recording computer program, Saunders has a recording studio at his fingertips which he says is a medium that allows independent artists of all genres to produce their own music easily and for relatively low costs. Photo by Jon Stewart

The Digital Stage

As the big four consolidate artists like The Killers are becoming fewer and fewer.  The labels aren’t taking the chances that they used to, and the fans are responding with the technology to seek out the unique, unconsolidated music genres they need.  Universal for example fired A&R representative Rob Stevenson in 2007, who discovered The Killers13.  The consolidation of management also means the consolidation of genres.  Now for the first time because of new media technologies such as online music sharing and purchasing, the niche markets of narrow interest are working to replace the mainstream hits, by sharing a “digital stage” with such artists.

There are now only four major labels; EMI, Universal, Sony/BMG and Warner Music controlling major record labels internationally.  As mentioned before, by the end of 2007, overall sales have declined 19 percent and digital sales have leveled off14.  While the labels continue to consolidate, the musical aspect becomes less and less important.  In turn, satisfying stockholders and quarterly numbers is the priority.  With this stress to make quarterly numbers, there becomes a tension between the music and the business15.  The term “music business” is one of contradiction.  There exists the music and the business however the dynamic that once existed to create great artists on a massive scale is sinking.

“Major labels lost the trust of their listeners, also with consolidation of radio.  There used to be a feeling among regular people that Columbia would put out a good artist
and the radio wouldn’t play it if  it wasn’t good.  The small amount of labels controlling music ruins the system and buying radio time, means there will not be good artists on it all the time.  When the Internet happened, people could find music wherever they wanted.” -Meredith DiMenna Saunders president, Exotic Recordings

There is no question that there is money to be made from music, as it proves to be a desirable facet of pop culture.  However, there was once a time where major labels made a great deal of money from music and now as the labels consolidate, it seems to be the exact opposite of this.  There is a trend emerging more and more each year where sales decline and a reason for this is music being forced to lie subject to the business and its policies instead of the art of music standing alone.

Frontman Chris Martin of Coldpaly. Coldplay’s third record X&Y’s delayed release declined EMI”s sales by 13 percent overall. Public Domain image.

Specifically, there was once a time when artists were given the creative freedom to develop a career, often sitting on several failed records within a major label contract before writing that gold or platinum album.  The labels were not as nearsighted as they are today.  Major labels of today instead control the creative process in terms of production, distribution and promotion.  But more importantly, the major labels are telling the artists when to write and when to record.  The art of music has increasingly become a business and the sales reflect this trend16.

“Shareholders are the great evil of this modern world.  I don’t really care about EMI. I’m not really concerned about that.” 17 Chris Martin; Lead Singer of Coldplay

British rock group Coldplay is signed to EMI, and based on its success as a group, its most recent record X&Y in 2005 was the label’s “flagship” in a sense.  This is because its release was supposed to be a serious money maker for EMI18.  However, Coldplay experienced something that is not in the business world’s dictionary, something that the corporate “suits” and stockholders do not understand; the group experienced writer’s block19.

As a result, the album X&Y delayed from releasing on time and EMI as a result took a financial blow.  This blow resulted in EMI’s sales declining 13 percent from the Coldplay delay.20  Even though the album went on to top charts worldwide once it was released, this is a relevant example of the business of music.  While the labels at one time worked around the creative schedule, today the bands on the other hand are forced and pressured to make records to satisfy stockholders.  While Coldplay refused to force an album that was not ready, it worked out in the long run for EMI and the group.  However, most groups are not as bold as Coldplay.  This is why the artist to management relationship works better for indie labels.  There is an understanding of the business of music needing to lend itself to the music.21

“The industry is becoming more level with larger indie labels.  Major labels  are cutting back to fewer resources  and the indie labels can cover more ground now.  Major labels are putting out a smaller fraction of artists while indie labels are exploring more genres.  Indie labels will tend to work with artists that they feel are doing something artistically viable and attractive to the consumer.  The major labels will take an artist with potential and what fits on the marketing plan.  It seems that for the most part, artists on indie labels have less to complain with artistic visions.  Everybody says the same thing.  These are uncharted waters, the rise of a new era and the rise of a new industry model.  Everybody is excited about a new business that everybody can possibly have a foot in the door.  The entire industry is being overhauled.  People have been working passionately in this industry, but are not having a much more level playing field to move in on once that industry that’s new emerges.” -Keith Saunders, vice president, Exotic Recordings

Exotic Recordings vice president Keith Saunders test the levels on a microphone in his home studio in Bridgeport, Conn. Photo by Jon Stewart

While the major labels scramble to put out backed catalogs and further consolidate, as well as merge and cut back employees, independent labels are taking advantage of the situation. The Internet has proven to be a powerful tool on a global scale in order to shrink the global village.  While people can communicate via the Web almost anywhere in a contemporary world, independent artists and labels have found a window to make a name in the industry.

That window for independent artists has been the use of new media technologies through the Web including Facebook, Myspace, Pandora and iTunes to name a few.  Because of these technologies, artists of today whether they be independent or be corporately affiliated are being put on a level playing field.22   There was once a time when independent artists did not have the pull that they do today.  And while major labels once had all of the pull in popular music, they cannot keep up with the technologies of today.  The result is as follows:  independent artists utilize new media technologies to produce their own music, distribute it and finally bring the music on the road to the fans.  Before new media technologies such as the Internet existed, physical sales were the primary way to distribute and capitalize on popular music.23

“The major labels are always being surprised by what the public gravitates for, something so unexpected and shocking comes out and these bands blow up that were written off.  Often the labels think the public is not ready.”  Keith Saunders, vice president, Exotic Recordings

On the contrary, the Internet in a modern day world means digital sales of media is a reality and crucial part of life.  Independent artists have gravitated toward this trend and put themselves on the digital music shelves right next to major label recordings artists.24  Furthermore, major labels have failed to adapt to this trend and instead work to produce radio friendly singles, and physical sales.