Too Much Noise In The Air!
Posted on Mar 14, 2011 under Uncategorized | No CommentThe music biz has changed greatly in the past few years. I believe that n the not to distant future, music will be viewed as a free commodity – given away to market or promote some other endeavor. The world and your ears are over-saturated with songs. In the sixties if you were a pop / r&r fan, there were just a few handfuls of artists that created all the music that was considered cool. At one point, for example, there were only a half dozen noted women singer / songwriters. Artists developed from album to album, experimented, and gave you music like you’ve never heard before.
That was then, this is now! There are so many records released today, thousands and thousands of songs are instantly available for your listening pleasure – but very few have any deep meaning or connection to a sustainable audience. The music album as an art form – a combination of songs conceived to flow together and create an amazing, unique listening experience – is virtually a thing of the past. Single songs are the norm, not much different than the singles driven 50’s, and CD’s are for the most part just a collection of these on one disk.
As a music producer, I am strongly advising solo artists and bands to NOT spent the money anymore to record full length – 10 to 14 song – CD’s. That model is no longer appropriate or cost effective to the indie, self financed artists. To me, the best approach is for an artist to record the best one or two songs the best way possible – with a talented producer who will help pick the song(s) with the most potential for success, who will spend the time to do creative pre-production, and record the artist’s best work with great players, pro mastering AND most importantly, connect the artist with someone who will give the songs a true afterlife – a marketing guru to shop the songs for licensing use, and promote and market the songs in the marketplace. It just makes sense to create a buzz without spending tens of thousands of dollars and months of time, completing a dozen songs – especially when so many artists, after selling the first couple of hundred CD’s to fans, family & friends, spend the next year or two tripping over the boxes of unsold CD’s stacked in the hallway!
There is a better way with more potential for a positive upside. That’s my current goal as a producer – get the artist to higher ground with their best song leading the way within a diligent marketing plan of a collaborating industry marketing professional who knows the landscape.