The Rev. Keith A. Gordon was one of the more interesting characters in the early '90's BBS scene in Nashville. I recently ran into him again on MySpace and he pointed me to his blog on which he has some bitting commentary about what is going on with the music industry. You should take a second to read his thoughts on last week's announcement that CD sales are down 20%. He puts the blame where I firmly believe it belongs... That the music industry has been churning out crap nobody cares about while trying to sue their future away. Also check out his website for some more interesting goodies, including music reviews. The name of his website, That Devil Music, reminds me of a short promo for WRVU 91.1 recorded in the early 90's on which Dagmar and I provided backup vocals that you still occaisonally hear on the air today in Nashville.
Fisher ponders “the question is: how often does a consumer
opt to buy just one or two songs off an album rather than buy the whole thing?
This phenomenon must affect the top of the music charts quite viciously.”
Fisher points out that at one time, you were forced to buy a $15 CD just to get
the one song that you wanted. Today, you can buy it for .99¢ or less from a
digital retailer.
This, too, is the fault of the major labels.
From around 1996 or so, when the labels first crammed the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC down the throats of teenage music buyers, the fragile balance between art and commerce was skewed the wrong way. Smelling major money to be had, the labels went overboard in pushing studio-created “frankenbands,” pop tarts like Christina and Britney and pushing vacuous outfits like Creed and Third Eye Blind to the top of the charts. With predictable results, the labels taught a generation of music buyers to value the hit single above all else, and that you had to buy the album to get the one song you want. This was profitable, also, because the constant churning-and-turning of performers meant that you never had to pay higher royalties or reduce recoupable expenses for some prissy “veteran” musician.
