Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
I wish I had an idea for them. I still buy CDs because they have no DRM and CD's the highest quality format available for most music and the medium serves as an archive.
CD sales are down, online sales and streaming services are inching forward, and most record labels are in a world of hurt. What do record labels need to do to survive and thrive?
They need to raise revenues from bundling advertising with their products, allowing the consumer to purchase it for little or no cost. Sell the inside sleeves of CDs as ad space. Make full resolution downloads available free of cost from licensed sites which incorporate innovative advertising technologies. They need to do their jobs and master the stuff properly so that there really is a downside to using MP3s over CDs. Respect and woo the high-resolution market instead of ignoring and confusing it as they are the people who care about the quality of their music and are often willing to pay for it. Kill DRM—don't shackle the customer before they have comitted a crime and then blame them for engaging in criminal activity. DRM just engenders animosity. Encourage the creation of music as an art, not just a product, and people will pay for it to support those who touch our souls. You're less likely to cheat on your wife if you really love her. Just look at the sales of the Beatles catalog.
Record better quality artists. Good artists are too few, most are the same old same old middle-of-the-road artists instead of truly great diamond-in-the-rough artists, when it comes to rock. Jazz & classical new artists always impress. Price of CDs should be lower, especially direct from label and even more so more if using a downloading online service.
Offer three tiers of content quality: Tier 1: Studio master (eg, 24/96) lossless or uncompressed wrapped in strong DRM. Tier 2: CD quality (16/44.1) also wrapped in DRM. Tier 3: Lossy compressed with no DRM. Discontinue distribution of new releases on CD. Distribution would be only as protected files or a new format supporting DRM. There would be lots of squawking over this model, but I don't see any other realistic solution.
Record labels need to address the needs of adult music lovers by offering music for grownups. Music that is fresh, new, and well-recorded, sans all tricks and short cuts. Recording live to tape or digital would be ideal, especially if all musicians and vocalists are in the same room, performing together at the same time.
Who needs a label? We live in a label-free world. Music is now a community thing. In the label world, the scout was looking for talent. Later, the scout was looking for a product. Who needs a label when all you need/want can be downloaded label-free, right from the artist?
They're doomed, and that's great news! The world doesn't need them supporting and marketing mediocre acts that are mainstream popular and nothing else. Their distribution system is outdated and overpriced. They have lost relevance. And good riddance to them. Now we'll see a range of interesting and quality music from a range of genres, all at great prices. It's like we've left the tunnel.
1) Lay off the idiots that got them there. 2) Market talent, not formula. 3) Provide value for the dollar—I want a product that's worth what I pay for it. If it's packaged, make it a good package. If it's a reissue, make the remaster something special and include extras that are actually good. Maybe even allow downloads of extra content. 4) If it's digital only, provide high-rez (lossless) content or don't try charging almost as much as the physical media. 5) Stream content for free to expose people to the lesser-known bands and songs.
Make high-rez audio downloads available at a reasonable price and make efforts to get better sources than just CD, use some of Mobile Fidelity and JVC high-rez techniques to master 24/96 versions and educate the public about how great they are.