Major Labels: The End of an Era ♦ Top Ten News Stories Of The Decade ♦ #10

[23lFrench]

Radiohead and Arcade Fire woop!!!!

[DJpopel]

Fuck yeah! sell that shit out the trunk of yo car along with blunts and twenty sacks!

[marniespeaks]

pretty much

[rere989375]

Sad that alot of those bands don't get more coverage. They are doing well, but their fan base will never overcome the hordes of Lil Wayne, Miley Cyrus, Rhianna, and that worst of them all Soulja Boy. But that's just what the youth want. It sucks to see music die.

[DragonDDT]

Don't forget about NIN giving away an album on their site last year, and "accidentally" leaking their last album on a record label 2 months before it was to drop.

[omacron6]

LOL

[EphraimRodrigez]

lady gaga and the shit of mtv for all the superficial people out there

and radiohead for for people who have their own taste

[orajeladdict]

@ephraimrodrigez

but it's easily possible for someone to be superficial and like radiohead isn't it?

[EphraimRodrigez]

good point

but the most people who like radiohead arn´t so superficial to listen only to music thats in the charts like lady gaga

[PClaytonHuggins]

Hey Davis, I am sharing your vids on my Facebook page. I know, you're an acquired taste, but people have to hear your take on your society/culture.

[NubianTribesman]

This is good news

[D119heavy]

Excellent stuff, I'm so glad the capitalistic music industry is vulnerable to real artists making music the way they want to.

It would be really depressing if artists had no choice but to be forever bound by the shackles of corporate censorship and businessmen controlled content. Artists making and having control over their own art, what a novel concept!

[chainerd]

this is so true, every "top 20" show is the same mass produced dribble that the major record companies pay to have written and then pass onto the performers, independent music is mad from the blood sweat and tears of those performing it, you can't tell me that "Hannah Montana" writes her own music, I miss the days when they actually played music on the radio

[restlesspride666]

:D I'm glad i stopped watching MTV like around 2006

[KingHeathen]

"Arcade Fire?" Never heard of them.

As a musician, I'm not a fan of the major labels...but they are STILL music's best chance of major distribution. An indy label is just fine to get you off the ground...but nothing will ever compete with MASS MEDIA!

The problem isn't the size of the label...it's the integrity of that label.

I ASSURE YOU that every indy label worth its salt fantasizes of becoming the next major one.

The answer isn't Indy vs Major...it's the midlevel company.

[davisfleetwood]

@KingHeathen Do you think that Dischord Records "fantasizes about becoming the next major?

Really?

[KingHeathen]

Are they "worth their salt" as I put it?

See, for a label to be successful they have to be large. It costs a ridiculous amount of money to properly market an act. Most acts are money losing ventures. So you have to have enough acts so that the few that make it through can fund the attempts at all the others. If the label isn't trying to grow, then it is doomed to fail.

The only exception is when a major act (having already made it) creates their own label. But that's hardly the same thing

[ryanjames2007]

I think when you said BBQ you meant Sufjan's BQE as in 'Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.' Other then that right on the money. love your videos

[sonictribe]

@KingHeathen @KingHeathen What we’ve been seeing doesn't agree with what you've written. The music market is in a very clear movement away from MASS MEDIA toward long tail marketing. Mass media strategies no longer provides stable returns. Also, I disagree with you in that the issue is completely Indy vs Major, not size. All of the Major's are over extended in a declining market, whereas the independent labels are fostering artists and doing a much better job maintaining loyal fan bases.

[sonictribe]

@KingHeathen What we’ve been seeing doesn't agree with what you've written. The music market is in a very clear movement away from MASS MEDIA toward long tail marketing. Mass media strategies no longer provides stable returns. Also, I disagree with you in that the issue is completely Indy vs Major, not size. All of the Major's are over extended in a declining market, whereas the independent labels are fostering artists and doing a much better job maintaining loyal fan bases.

[KingHeathen]

@sonictribe Are you in the music industry?

[surfjacobson1]

An end of an Era and the beautiful beginning of a new.

[mrx0066600]

Ha so that's why music sucks today, it's not that it sucks, it's just not being pumped to the public threw Major labels anymore.

Now it all makes sense. If I want to find new great bands, I'm going to have to do some searching on the net by word of mouth and sound. See what's new and great out there myself.

[pt2091]

I have an infographic somewhere that shows people who pirate more media tend to purchase more media than the law abiding.

PIRATE WIN

[mldnathai]

Glad to see them go. Hopefully the TV networks will soon follow.

[FiReaLuv]

right on to that.

tv networKrap is being replaced already

the sooner the better!

[jdrizd2]

Reminds me of a tee shirt I used to see a lot of back in the grunge days. It simply said, "Corporate Rock Still Sucks"...

[KingCrimson776]

Too band those indie bands you mentioned suck ass. But yeah, I agree that major labels suck nonetheless. :P

[imjustagirl776]

Trent Reznor of NIN also gave away his newest album last year on his website. I thought that was pretty awesome. Oh, and sorry for being such a brat as of late in the comments. I just needed a laugh is all and you weren't delivering me my much needed belly laugh like you used to do and I was having a bad day and then the dog ate my homework. You know I love your work. Hope we're still cool, dude.

[davisfleetwood]

@imjustagirl776 honey- we are always cool. feel free to give me a hard time any time you wish.

i probably deserve it.

[outled]

as a musician i refuse to sell my work ever! That is what its all about, to do it for no financial recompense whatsoever. YEAH! The underground IS completely and utterly non-monetary.

[Marvin27]

Seriously? Do you give away your CDs for free? Do you play free shows (completely FREE as in no cover charge for the audience and no compensation to the band)?

That's admirable, but will eventually wear you down. It takes money to tour. The problem of the industry is not money itself (as it is only a symbol of energy and a medium of exchange), but the corporate power structure which siphons money away from the artists. The problem is contracts which lock bands into indentured servitude.

[outled]

Marvin27 i'm talking about music not money, you on about distribution of work thats completely different. As an artist, my creativity would lose any reality if i were to be paid. I even wrestle with myself about sharing my work, as even that takes a bit of the natural process out. But yeah i do give everything away for free and live extremely frugal, i'm not on this earth to make a profit. :)

[pakratmak]

Funny enough, I liked this better than any of the song reviews you recently posted.

[PersonalJesus348]

Great start! This list has some real potential. Smashing Pumpkins are going this route as well and the likes of Madonna is for it as well.

Humpty Dumpty is taking several falls.

[shaqthatwontbitebac]

I like it........