I hope that it's still possible to "make it" in today's music world.
It's more possible than ever, but the definition of "make it" has changed dramatically. 20 years ago, "making it" meant "millions of albums sold"--think David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac. A few others eked out a decent living, but the people getting rich had to sell a lot of records and fill a lot of stadiums. And there were only a handful of artists that got that chance.
Now, it's possible for someone to sell a few tens of thousands records, fill a few mid-size concert venues, and make an excellent living. One can entirely skip the music industry BS. You still need to book shows, and you still need to promote, and you still need to work hard...but it's now possible for a middle tier act, with recordings to sell, to come to the end of a tour and be in the black.
Superchunk are a great example of just this shift in the industry. They started indie, signed to a major, and went back to being indie because they made a lot more money that way (and now they own/run Merge, one of the more successful truly indie labels--Spoon, Arcade Fire, She & Him, Destroyer, etc. are all Merge bands). A lot of acts since then have followed their lead. The second and third generation of punk rock bands, as well as independent hip hop acts, kind of paved the way for this and there are now plenty of examples of acts that make a good living and don't have to answer to a major label. So far, it doesn't seem to work for pop (in all its forms...country pop, electronic pop, rock pop, etc.) and those genres still require a sales channel that can be stuffed and a hype machine in order for anyone to make any money. That'll probably die eventually, as the mainstream buyer strays into more widely varied territory due to ease of access on the web, and good riddance to bad rubbish.
Girl Talk is an artist from Pittsburgh that has "made it" by the new definition. He doesn't sell very many records, because they are kind of illegal so he intentionally stays under the radar, but he can sell out 2000 person venues. His new record came out -- it's a meticulously edited pop/hip-hop mashup album. It is as mainstream sounding as something solidly outside of the mainstream can get.
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My girlfriend did just that. The band's first show is this Saturday at http://www.creepycrawl.com/ (her band is called Mondair).
I hope that it's still possible to "make it" in today's music world.
I hope that it's still possible to "make it" in today's music world.
It's more possible than ever, but the definition of "make it" has changed dramatically. 20 years ago, "making it" meant "millions of albums sold"--think David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac. A few others eked out a decent living, but the people getting rich had to sell a lot of records and fill a lot of stadiums. And there were only a handful of artists that got that chance.
Now, it's possible for someone to sell a few tens of thousands records, fill a few mid-size concert venues, and make an excellent living. One can entirely skip the music industry BS. You still need to book shows, and you still need to promote, and you still need to work hard...but it's now possible for a middle tier act, with recordings to sell, to come to the end of a tour and be in the black.
Superchunk are a great example of just this shift in the industry. They started indie, signed to a major, and went back to being indie because they made a lot more money that way (and now they own/run Merge, one of the more successful truly indie labels--Spoon, Arcade Fire, She & Him, Destroyer, etc. are all Merge bands). A lot of acts since then have followed their lead. The second and third generation of punk rock bands, as well as independent hip hop acts, kind of paved the way for this and there are now plenty of examples of acts that make a good living and don't have to answer to a major label. So far, it doesn't seem to work for pop (in all its forms...country pop, electronic pop, rock pop, etc.) and those genres still require a sales channel that can be stuffed and a hype machine in order for anyone to make any money. That'll probably die eventually, as the mainstream buyer strays into more widely varied territory due to ease of access on the web, and good riddance to bad rubbish.
Girl Talk is an artist from Pittsburgh that has "made it" by the new definition. He doesn't sell very many records, because they are kind of illegal so he intentionally stays under the radar, but he can sell out 2000 person venues. His new record came out -- it's a meticulously edited pop/hip-hop mashup album. It is as mainstream sounding as something solidly outside of the mainstream can get.
http://74.124.198.47/illegal-art.net/__girl__talk___feed__th...