Originally Posted by
sodascouts
One of Don's better interviews; very well-written. You can tell he took some time with it. He makes good sense and I can understand where's he coming from better with this article than some of his others. He makes a lot of good points.
I agree that all things go in cycles, and in the digital era, those cycles become shorter and shorter. Look at MySpace - it used to ubiquitous, but now it's fading. For good or for ill, nothing lasts forever.... and that includes corporations.
I found his comments about the money being in touring now to be food for thought. If it's true that the music industry is going back to being live-based, it would ironically be a throwback to pre-acetate days when being a musician meant being able to sing for your supper on a regular basis. Music was still a business - instruments have been made and sold for thousands of years; you can find them in ancient Egypt. People were paid to sing and play. They might not have become billionaires, but they were able to make a living doing what they loved. The profession of the musician has been around long before the evolution of the record company and will continue even if that corporate entity collapses.
Then, people could not hide their inadequacies through studio tricks. Perhaps it is time for a return to that paradigm. In such a paradigm, the attitude would become "They sounded great live; let's buy their stuff" rather than the record-label paradigm, which is the opposite. Their attitude: "You need us to get your name out there; that's the only way people will buy your album. Then, if they like it, they'll go see you live and buy more."
Don is right that in such a system - the system in which he and the Eagles thrived - the record labels are necessary. In the live-based scenario, perhaps they will not be, especially as the power of the internet continues to grow. What Don sees as a "myth" now might become quite possible before long.
After all, Mozart didn't need a record company to have a "lifetime career of scale."
Industries change. I bet the carriage-making industry was hit hard when everybody started using those darn cars.... cycles indeed.
And I bet that in 50 years, Google will also be a thing looked back upon with nostalgia and missed by those who benefited from that "sovereign nation."
In the end, though, it's all about the music. It's wrong to illegally download songs and I condemn that, but such behavior won't destroy music. Nothing can do that.