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Can VCs Change The Music Industry?
from the trying...-trying... dept
People sometimes like to compare record execs to venture capitalists, but one major difference between the two is that, at least VCs realize that the nature of business (even their own) tends to change over time. The record execs still seem to want to deny that. Perhaps things will start to change, now that VCs are starting to get into the music business, looking to build up companies that can challenge the old guard with new technologies and new business models. Of course, the last time VCs tried to get involved with new technologies and business models for the music biz, those VCs got sued by the music biz.
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The audience hasn't changed
Techies like to make a lot of noise about how the music industry is behind the times. However, the techies themselves are still obedient servants of a music industry that tells them they have to listen to music to be considered socially acceptable. We do not see masses of young people setting bonfires to musical recordings; they have not yet freed themselves from the notion that they have to listen to such-and-such to be considered "normal" or "cool". People are still the same conformist herd animals, and the music industry plays on this insecurity. So long as people fail to realize this, there will always exist a music industry to define what is "normal" and "cool" to the herd.
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Do you not remember Metallica vs. Napster, and the angry fans burning mountains of Metallica CD's in San Francisco and New York?
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It still misses the point. The fans still want their music, because the music industry told them that music is cool. It amounts to slaves demanding a pay hike, not questioning the institution of slavery.
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Who's responsible for deepthroating Western civilization with the likes of Britney & her knock-offs, the BoyBand clones, & the phenomena everybody knows as "American Idol?"
Could those fumbling idiots in the music biz have achieved such feats alone?
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Incidentally, as a producer, I constantly advise my artists to stay away from records labels, and to seek individual investors (basically a VC function) to gain access to working capital. i"m currently building relationships with VC folks to get my production company/studio off the ground. VC's ask much better questions and tend to put smarter (and MUCH more reasonable) deals on the table, versus record companies, which, well....we know.
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Wow...I actually agree with you here to some degree.
I don't think we as people want music because the music industry told us its cool. I think music is a part of the human condition that, while we could live without it, does add value to our standard of living.
That said, I do believe that 99% of the population ARE sheep who buy the commercial crap that's out there because its marketted to them by the music industry.
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Perils of the Five Percent
That said, I do believe that 99% of the population ARE sheep who buy the commercial crap that's out there because its marketted to them by the music industry.
Take a look at the top 40 or so downloads on any of the major music services -- iTunes, Napster, Musicmatch, Rhapsody, etc. What do you see?
I'm starting to think we're fighting a losing battle by fighting the RIAA directly. Perhaps what we really need to do is find a way to appeal directly to the people -- a way to get our signal past the noise of the mass media and find a way for our message to be heard. It's kind of like the Five Percent Nation allegory -- 10% of the population (the RIAA) control the world and all but hypnotizing the 85% (the masses), who are just following along and not really thinking for themselves. It's up to the remaining 5%, the ones who have knowledge and truth on their side, to teach the 85% how to look past the tricks of the 10%.
How do we do that? Well, that's the $64,000 question, isn't it?
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