Quote:
Originally Posted by TweakHead
What I think that story on the link illustrates is that there's not so much money in the music industry because things have changed. There's not - like I said here - as much money to be made because there's more competition. There's plenty more artists, there's plenty more ways to get music to, even streaming is a big challenge for the music industry as we speak.
So the reasonable conclusion is that no band is ever going to achieve such levels of industry success ever. And if you need another example, then take Pink Floyd or the Rolling Stones while we're at it. Trust me, no one's ever going to touch that level of success again! And the whole point I'm trying to make here is that it's not just about quality, it's got to do with other things.
Even those big studios you mention, just take a look how many of them are still in practice today. Take a look at how much an artist is expected to make from an album and do your math: if you have the money to live off it, and you have money to get all the conditions and material you want, then chances are you'll be much more focused in just doing music, you'll make plenty of it and you're always growing and becoming better at it!
The fact of the matter is: that today it's quite easy to make music, but it's much harder to make a career with it.
And the points I've made are:
Both money and the audiences are much more distributed. So an artist gets less of both.
Labels are not big business anymore.
Success has nothing to do with quality. It's got to do with money and having a big audience.
I actually like the bands you pointed out! 
cheers |
Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones would also both be great examples of the bands of yesteryear I'm referring to, even though I'm not a big fan of either. There are a lot of others actually, some of whose music I actually can't stand personally, but I could still cite them as an example of talent that is increasingly unavailable.
One that comes to mind is Michael Jackson. I personally can't stand the guy's music -- not even one song of his can prevent me from changing the radio station. And yes, I think he was probably a bit of a pedo, I don't think his love of kids was purely innocent. However, I once saw a show highlighting some of his career accomplishments, and I was at awe at how talented the guy really was. It doesn't matter that I hate his music, I can still recognize the talent. Likewise, I can recognize the law of diminishing returns over time that has occurred in the music industry.