The Music Industry is Dead (here's how musicians survive)

#music #industry #guitar
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[BradConroy_guitar]

Classical guitar teacher for 28 years, my current students do not listen to music and they have zero guitar heroes. I have to beg them to check things out, it is really sad.

[johnhmaloney]

I grew up during the album era. I learned to play guitar and bass, got pretty good at them, and dreamed of getting signed and making a living as a rockstar. I jammed with a lot of friends and had a great time, but due to the fact that I use a wheelchair and have some mental health issues, there were just too many barriers to properly pursue that dream. A few years ago, I starting learning to sing and in 2022, at the age of 50, I started releasing my own original music. It's very nichey (just vocal and ukulele), I still haven't found much of an audience, and I seriously doubt that music will ever be my job. But the fact that I can record a song at my dining table and have it on multiple platforms, among the music of my heroes, in just a couple of days is honestly satisfying enough. From a purely artistic standpoint, I definitely think it's better today.

[samuraiguitarist]

There's definitely a discussion to be had about the state of AI and music, I've only heard the insane advances in it in the last few days. Should I make a video on it????

[danielnaberhaus]

The thing about introverts hit me hard. I suck at selling myself.

[wesst.]

"Some people feel the rain, others just get wet" - Bob Marley

[gauthiernatalashadow]

I was a huge music consumer years ago and observed my appetite for music retract over time. It impacted my music playing too because if you don't listen to stuff, you can't get ideas of what to play next and I ended up playing the same 10 tracks in loop, every single day.

At some point I decided I needed better consumption hygiene. I use streaming services as a preview system, similar to going to a music store a few decades ago and you would listen to a few tracks on the headphones present there.
I don't skip tracks anymore, and if I like a couple tracks, I go listen to the whole album.

Because a whole album is usually an hour, it means I have to dedicate time for it. I gave back a spot of my free time to music.

Even if you still use streaming services, just trying to be more selective and choose albums instead of random tracks, and dig the artists a little more once you find an album you like is such an improvement in my opinion.

[hanginman]

The death of the album is the greatest tragedy. People don't experience the beauty and art of a full album anymore, they just listen to the popular hits.

[lairlair]

Nice video, but it always bugs me hearing youtubers gushing about the freedom we have nowadays. Here are a few points that I believe we should think critically about:
- The online platforms are the new music industry. You can't bypass them, and your success depends on the algorithm and policy changes.
- Being able to upload whatever you want is not freedom, not without a few caveats at least. To make a living, you will have to conform to whatever the internet audience is expecting, and youtube videos are actually more formatted than we give them credit for (topics, length, visuals...). Plus the sheer mass of people competing for attention is a high barrier to get over.
- Survivor's bias: just because _you_ made it doesn't mean anyone can, even if they follow your steps. It's eluding the vast majority of people who gave up along the way, who could have been great artists if they had a structure supporting them.
- Which leads us to hope labor: working hundreds of hours hoping that it will pay off in the long run. It seems we're accepting working hard for free and in isolation for online platforms, with the carrot on a stick keeping us going. Just because it's our choice to invest these hours doesn't make it okay.


I didn't write all this to claim it used to be better, I just think it's important to stay critical and to expect more

[natgrant]

I like that introverts were mentioned. I'm not just an introvert, I'm mentally ill. It's very difficult for me to go anywhere for any reason. It's difficult for me to deal with people (though, that doesn't mean I don't care about people.)

I was in a band in the late '80s and early '90s and we had performed at our first gig. The guitarist and the drummer were thrilled by the experience and I absolutely hated it. I just wanted to record music.

I hadn't played music in a very, very long time but recently, I've been re-learning guitar, bass and a little keyboards and there are so many more possibilities now.

Okay, so maybe I won't become a famous musician but once I've got things going and can record again, I can put music out into the world and if anyone happens to hear it and like it, that would make me happy.

[stringstandard]

There are still gatekeepers in streaming music. Think about their "curated" lists, how do you think songs get on those lists? There is so much music being created now the hard part is getting people to hear it. Don't get me wrong, I agree it's better now in terms of artists ability to create music cheaply at home, but the volume of music produced today has skyrocketed which makes the problem of getting it heard difficult.

[godless_pacifist]

Rick Beato made a good point about how the music industry destroyed its self. Around the time Napster came out labels would focus on 2-3 songs that would be the hit singles and the rest of the album would be shitty filler songs, and than sell the album for $20. No one in their right mind would spend $20 on 2-3 good songs so naturally people turned to Napster. Granted alot of people probably would have used Napster regardless of how many good songs were on the album but still.

[DrelvanianGuardOffic]

So Lars Ulrich was right.. Napster really did kill the music industry.

[GodeCynningaz]

I went back University and became a lawyer. Music is just a hobby for me now - an outlet.
Producing on Ableton etc became too much screen time so now I play classical guitar and piano.

I also bought an eight course Renaissance lute.

At least my life has structure now!

[michaelyolch]

What breaks my heart more than anything is that a great deal of music has lost its HUMANITY.

Everything locked to a flawless tempo grid, software emulations of real instruments, tuned-to-death vocals, endless post production plugins etc. Seriously...you put on an epic record from the 70s like Carole King's Tapestry, and it's a major EXPERIENCE. All the nuances of tempo fluctuations from PERFORMING, all the sharp and flat "imperfections" of her voice, all REAL instruments...all of it. THAT is what we've lost, and continue to lose more of every day.

[Curiomerc]

I still abhor the fact that the industry is still trying its hardest to leech money from the artist. If it was just the streaming platform that would be one thing. I wouldn't mind making little to no money from my own music if it was even near a fair cut for my work.

[jamesorion]

Man this was exactly what I needed to see, 20 years almost as a musician and about 8 albums worth of fully finished songs and I'm finally ready to get my stuff out there. This definitely motivates me to make some real moves and actually gave me a bit more direction. I had to subscribe. Thanks bro. 👍

[sisuriffs]

I’m older than you, but I am reminded by your excellent video just how quickly/suddenly things change—things that seemed such a firm part of society itself. The music industry, television, radio, newspapers, and magazines come to mind. Where they still exist, they are niche products now, like oil paintings, sculptures, and etchings. All were as ubiquitous as cell phones and iPads are today.

It will be interesting to see what comes next.

[TheIgnoramus]

The “industry” has always been a sh*t show. People making art for people is all that has ever mattered. Everything else is gilded product.

[spotifyseascapessmoothjazz]

The problem with production being cheap is that the market is now flooded with low-effort music. The former expenses of releasing music was an effective filter. It wasn't good enough to put together something of average quality. Artists were forced to put a profound product on the table to even be considered by the industry. There's so much "Look ma! I'm a [insert genre] artist!" crap coming out these days.

[mcswordfish]

I think one downside to the newer industry model is the loss of "Bands too dysfunctional to succeed in their own"

Appetite For Destruction could never be made under the current system, because a band fueled by heroin and bourbon would struggle to organise the business side of things, and if they could, the album would not have had the firecracker-passion it has.