You Are Not a Victim: Rebuilding the Music Industry in 2008

I came across something excellent on Andrew Dubber’s New Music Strategies today:

So why, if these things are simply part of the same phenomenon, do we have this ongoing tension between the art of music and the commerce of music? Because clearly, there is a tension. The simplest way to explain it away is that people are a problem. Musicians are selfish and precious. Record companies are greedy and corrupt. Audiences are thieves. Promoters are crooks. Publishers are parasites. Retailers are unimaginative. The Music Press either regurgitates PR bollocks or has completely disappeared up its own arse. We often rely on these simplifications and stereotypes to make sense of the fact that being in music (and, therefore, in the music business) is hard. Harder than it probably should be.

2008 is all about Taking Responsibility.

I consciously try to live my life on the assumption that nobody can do anything to me without my permission. In other words, people don’t inflict a boring conversation on me: I have decided to sit through it. 

This assumption is something I also apply to the music business.  Rather than believing in a vast conspiracy of rich people with no taste oppressing us Cool Artist Types, I see things a little different. In 2008, I see an industry so fucking stupid they couldn’t figure out how to turn a profit with billions of dollars of resources and some of the most talented musicians in the world.  In 2008, I see a lot of talented people with no clue how to present themselves or organize their business.  There’s a lot of complaining and finger-pointing on both sides, but the reality is we all bring it upon ourselves, one day at a time.

I’m not saying this is radically new, but it is radically different from the assumptions most people walk around with.  Let’s apply this to music: now there’s no reason, ever again, to complain about shady promoters, greedy club owners, or Satanic record executives.  If you’d taken responsibility sooner, none of those poodles would be a factor in your life today.

“If not me, then who?”

Back when I was trying to launch a record label, the most valuable mantra I came up with during those countless hours of shit work was this: “If not me, then who?” I would bring this up every time I came across a really boring detail or a question I couldn’t answer.  I invoked this mantra as a constant reminder that there was nobody else to clean up after me or check my work. There was nobody else I could delegate to.  Anything I didn’t take care of myself was the foundation of a future failure.

Even though I’ve since abandoned my plan to launch a record label, I still abide by that same mantra because I’m still an independent musician.  Any and every detail I cannot learn to take care of myself will cost me money in 2008. From graphic design to coding my websites, from distribution to online sales, from performance contracts to selling beats—I have to know every aspect of my operation in order for my operation to be profitable and successful. 

The same is probably true for you.

The 10,000 Details

This much I know in 2008: you can run out of energy, run out of ideas, and run out of money, but you will never run out of unexamined details. No matter how much time, agony and coffee you devote to working out every aspect of your music business, there will always be more work to do. 

Here’s a work in progress: this is an overarching list of the 10,000 details I’m going to cover this year on Audible Hype.  Given my roving curiosity (and affection for visionary drugs) this will probably be growing more like a fractal than a PowerPoint presentation.

Personal Organization.

a. email, cell phone, internets
b. reliable and accessable storage
c. contacts, resources, mobility

For the DIY musician, I have also outlined four pillars: Recording, Performance, Promotion and Marketing.  I tried to keep this as simple as possible. You need recordings to get gigs, you need gigs to promote, you need to be promoting yourself to be marketable.  I think that’s a pretty logical summation.

1. Recording

a. Home studios/ portable and mobile studios
b. tech + setup
c. core principles of recording sessions
d. mixing
e. mastering

2. Performance

a. stage presence and practice
b. booking
c. contacts and networking
d. traveling, life on the road
e. tour planning, itinerary
f. life on the road

3. Promotion

a. presentation and design
b. websites and SEO
c. analytics and demographics
d. data theft
e. persuasion and copywriting

4. Marketing

a. journalists and media
b. merchandizing
c. running inventory on the road
d. accounting on tour
e. online orders
f. shipping

Obviously, Lots More to Come.

I will be keeping up the daily pace here on Audible Hype for as long as humanly possible.  I have an overabundance of material, and a monastic holiday season has helped me clarify my operation a great deal.  This site design is actually not how Audible Hype will be looking once we launch it—you can get a peek here.

Let me know how this site can be more useful.  I’m currently working on an introductory page, and a vast & detailed links page.  We’re also working on a section about recording gear and recommended products for the broke rappers and day job musicians out there.