It's Time!
Independent Music on the Rise
By Lara Karuna

Everyone’s been talking about it: The music industry is down 7% and falling. World record sales are at a new low, Sony and BMG, the #2 and the #5 companies have merged; record companies are firing employees left and right, 12 inch singles are the only contracts being handed out, etc… etc… The Record Industry is blaming the Internet and a rise in piracy due to CD burning. Some are saying the overhead is too high because of the legal bribery necessary to get singles on play lists at radio stations. The Industry is crying, but frankly, for all you Indies out there; we should be rejoicing. The fall of majors means the rise of minors and perhaps an end to the strong hold of corporate music.

So, why is the music industry floundering? There is no doubt that the above named factors have had an impact on sales, but I think we’re ignoring the obvious, people aren’t buying CD’s because, well, music sucks. It’s the inevitable result of mixing commerce with art. You get a bunch of executives, clutching their business analysis sheets trying to find hard numbers for something that cannot be quantified. I still recall a friend saying to me, in response to my comment about her plethora of pirated CD’s, "I’ll buy a CD when there’s something worth buying."

How many times can you hear about Hummers and Dom? How many lithe voices, pro-tooled to perfection, singing about heartbreak will we accept? How many live performances that don’t sound like the record will we watch? In essence, there is a limit to what the public will swallow, and I think we’ve had our fill.

Why there’s so much bad music?

The record industry is one of the most competitive industries. In it, are some of the most amazing talents. So with all this competition, why is the music still so bad? There are many contributing factors that go into making bad music and Independents are not immune to them. The only difference is that while majors need to sell millions, Indies only need to sell a few thousand. Because of this, Indies can fill niche markets, develop artists, and take risks that majors are not willing and perhaps cannot make.

The so-called "music market"

If you ask any record executive about who buys records, he will quickly say teenagers do. So, they gear everything towards the tumultuous hormones of kids. This means the singers have to be young (often with nothing very important to say), the music, easy to sing, the hook, easy to remember and the video A.D.D (Attention Deficit Disorder) proof. Artists with a teenage fan base, like Britney Spears, must constantly reinvent and reintroduce themselves in order to continue selling records. If they’re gone for any longer than 6-months, we will forget about them. As one middle school kid told me in ’99 when I asked about her favorite artists, "Britney Spears is soooo ’98, we like Nelly and Eminem."

On the other hand, Independents are not beholden to the same fickle market. Successful independents are structured around quality rather than quantity. Unlike Majors, that continue to up the ante on their definition of a hit record, Independents can ignore the whims of teenage girls. Appealing to the lowest common denominator does not dictate their music.

Lack of development

Aretha Franklin was signed to Columbia from 1960-1966. For six years the A&R worked closely with her trying to find a suitable sound. Let me reiterate, six years with no hits! That sort of development is unheard of now. If you don’t come ready made, well, you better have a damn catchy song like Ashanti, or have been a Mousketeer. An artist like Aretha Franklin, if signed today, would have faded into oblivion, her amazing talent left undiscovered. In contrast, Independent labels develop artists. Generally, the artist grows along with their fan base, a fan base that’s usually very loyal. This loyalty gives the artist freedom for experimentation and more time in between projects to grow in new directions.

Won’t take risks

Executives at majors tend to be safe. Like any corporate enterprise they need numbers to justify actions. Of course what makes good music is innovation. They are not totally at fault, though. There is no job security at record companies; someone’s head is always rolling. This sort of atmosphere makes taking on innovative projects understandably difficult. It also makes music bland and generic. For every multi-platinum artist there are a string of copycats that appear within the year. After the Backstreet Boys we had N’Sync, 98 degrees, LFO, etc.. Major record companies across the board turned down super producer Timbaland unsure of what genre he fell under, scared to invest in his new strange sound. Finally, Blackground, a small label, took the risk and look what happened- Timbaland’s unique sound has become an R&B standard, and of course, everyone now uses Timbaland-esk drum patterns.

The majors are tied up with profits and ways to manufacture hits. This preoccupation has left a void in the music industry. That void is quality music. If your music is good, people will buy it, word of mouth will get your sound out. Everyone likes to be the first to know about a great new artist - especially music lovers. If you have a little business sense and a great work ethic, you can fill this void. Let’s stop mourning over the losses in the industry and start providing that long ignored cry for quality music.