A documentary about the British music scene in the 70s recently got me thinking about where all these musicians would be in the modern age of the internet – the answer was pretty depressing. A band like Pink Floyd couldn’t exist in today’s landscape, and Nirvana couldn’t exist today either. Why? Because they simply wouldn’t have enough followers on social media to get a record deal.
Social media dominates the music industry
I’m not really a pessimist. Music, like any other art, has changed with every new technology and social development, and that’s not necessarily bad, just different. The only problem is: how do musicians get the money to practice their art these days?
Until the turn of the century, the music industry was a huge and rich business. If a musician got one of the hotly contested one million mark deals from a record company, he felt like he had “made it”. Nowadays, the same record companies simply don’t have the money to market artists on the same level. That’s why artists aren’t even invited into the building unless they have already proven in advance how they can market themselves – by having a large number of followers on social media.
Singer Chappell Roan made her big breakthrough on social media.Amy Harris/Invision/AP
Music has never really recovered from the Internet
The development was already apparent in the 90s, when consumers started burning CDs, which cost record companies a lot of money. When MP3 emerged as a format, the same consumers theoretically had the opportunity to listen to music their entire lives without having to spend a single cent. Music streaming services like Spotify seemed almost like the musician-friendly solution. You take out a subscription and can listen to all the music you want. Artists then get paid based on how many users listen to their songs.
This is of course more damage control than a real solution. Labels and musicians are held hostage in this agreement because they know that if their music is not on Spotify, listeners will simply download it again illegally. At the same time, the royalties are so negligible that it borders on insulting. You will probably not find a musician who likes Spotify. And at the same time, you will not find a music listener who doesn’t like it.
Bands like Nirvana probably wouldn’t make it today.Avalon.red/imago
Of course, there are individual efforts to stop the trend. Vinyl records are being bought more often again (although not to the extent that some people claim). Some fans still buy physical CDs, perhaps at concerts, as souvenirs.
Music fans keep the music industry alive
But it’s not just the musicians who don’t have any money. Many music listeners don’t have the money themselves to buy something that is actually a luxury because of Spotify and Co. – even if they actually want to support their favorite artists. As a result, we probably listen to more music today than at any other time in history, simply because it is so easily accessible. You no longer have to go through the hassle of finding a CD and putting it in the CD player – you can just click on something. At the same time, the music industry has never seen so little of our money. And as a result, record companies no longer have the luxury of investing in artists and giving them the freedom to do what they want.
Jana Hollstein writes every Tuesday for the KURIER about the big wide world of the Internet.
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