Changing Times

By Wendy Day

OK, so writing this article is the first productive thing I’ve done since I got my iPad. It’s crack to me. I’m so addicted to my iPad apps. I can’t get any work done. And I’m gonna have to take out a loan to pay for all of these expensive ass apps I am downloading onto my toy! The apps on my iPhone were 99 cents to $3.99. The iPad? The business apps are $9.99 and up. Games and books and shit? $4.99 and up… crazy. But I’m officially addicted. I have to pay to play.

Which brings me to the internet and technology... The playing field has been leveled. The price of recording equipment came down so anyone could record songs at home without having to spend a lot of money to record in a 64-track studio. Then, with the social networking sites, artists could go direct to fans and promote. With companies like TuneCore.com, artists can upload from home, and digitally distribute their music while collecting the bulk of the income from the sales. Could it get any better than this?

But here’s the downside: the internet with its relatively free access has led artists to believe that this is all they need. And that message was welcome news to most ears because—well, let’s face it, artists are almost always broke. So when led to believe that all they need is to upload their shit to the web and promote for free from home, they ate that up!! And still do. Unfortunately, it has made any internet millionaire artists in the music industry.

This thinking of “oh, that’s easy, I can do that,” spawned an entire new generation of people who jumped head first into the industry. This not only included artists and producers, but anyone who was able to invent a job within the music industry and look important. People able to copy news and information from the major hip hop web sites became bloggers and started blabbing their personal opinions and called themselves “sources.” Anyone able to collect email addresses and press send on a mass email became email blasters (for a fee). People with the ability to email bloggers and websites started calling themselves publicists and charging for it even though they lacked the relationships, skills, and experience to get successful placements for their clients. The more enterprising scammers toured the country doing seminars and showcases for a fee, as if they were the New Music Seminar meets American Idol. Except they taught next to nothing useful in the real world, and gave artists little more than experience performing in front of other artists, for a fee.

On the social networking sites, like Twitter, people with no experience and no access gained instant access to the inner circle of the music industry. You can “friend” or “follow” Julia Beverly, Puffy, Steve Rifkind, and every star and convince yourself you have a relationship with them. You can retweet what they say, or repeat it in an e-blast and lead others to think you have access and inner knowledge (reminder: you don’t).

Industrious folks quickly learned they could sit at home and surf the web in between computer games and would call it “grinding.” They could print up business cards and charge other unknowing folks who jumped into the industry to publicize them, promote their music, buy beats or hooks, subscribe to their eblasts, and pay good money for a variety of useless and ineffective services. Up sprang a cottage industry of conference calls, record pools, DJ coalitions, award shows, and seminars.

So an industry already rife with bullshitters and scam artists went into hyperspeed. Intent on making money off of artists’ dreams, these less than experienced “fuck boys” (including women) started promoting themselves and their services as if that’s what it took to succeed in this business. Only, they were wrong.

Even Souljah Boy, who is credited with being the first rap artist to use the internet effectively to promote, didn’t build his career solely by promoting on the internet. He got out on the streets and promoted to actual living people, as well as utilizing the internet to its fullest extent.

The internet has almost single handedly wiped out the need for retail stores and CDs. So what all of this created was an industry that was over crowded, inexperienced, and full of shit. It made it next to impossible for anyone to make a living doing music. It became overcrowded and saturated. The ancillary services were reduced to a few very talented people and a sea of bungling idiots. Many, many people lost large sums of money banking on the wrong people to help them.

But the Internet and technology aren’t the only things that negatively impacted the music industry. In the mid-2000s, the labels caught on to 360 Deals, and instituted them like they were fresh air. Not only wasn’t anyone getting a deal or being promoted at the label level unless they agreed to and signed a 360 Deal, but they became the new industry standard.

360 Deals impacted the industry quickly and heavily. Because the labels were now partners in every revenue stream possible for artists, the focus switched from building a career to making the artist a pop icon as quickly as possible. For example, where it took TI four albums to go from street rapper to pop radio superstar, and Young Jeezy three albums, Gucci Mane tried to do it in his first major label release. Labels became keen to drive their artists to urban radio and into the domain of pop radio so they could quickly impact tours and endorsement money. A rapper with a hit pop record could transcend into film, tv, endorsement, bigger touring opportunities, etc. It became about the financial split instead of about building a sound career with a foundation. Artists have become disposable. When the fans grow tired of Eminem (or he ages out of the target demographic), there’s Fergie and Black Eyed Peas to pick up the dollars. If and when Black Eyed Peas sales start to lag, the label can impact with Lady Gaga. It’s a constant cycle of filling the label’s coiffures. VERY smart business. Very damaging to the art form of music.

And since I’ve mentioned touring, let’s talk about how that has changed for the worse. When new artists were coming up (like Yo Gotti, Plies, Jeezy, Lil Wayne, etc) there was a market for artists to make $5,000 to $10,000 a show. Up and coming artists who had developed a street buzz could make a living doing shows. When I first met Yo Gotti, he was doing very well for himself performing for $3,000 to $5,000 a show, three or four nights a week. He could eat, his manager and his team could eat, and it helped to build his reputation and buzz with fans and with the industry. He built a solid foundation.

In today’s economy, artists seem to raise their prices quickly, so they become more expensive than they can attract fans. Here’s what I mean: Nicky Minaj had a wonderful buzz. Before she had a single or an album to promote, the word was she was charging $16,000 a show. That is a wonderful thing, but here is the reality of that. In a smaller market, which is what makes up the bulk of America, to make a profit on a $16,000 show, the promoter has to have a venue that holds at least 3000 people willing to spend $15 or $20 a ticket. In a smaller market, there are very few clubs that hold 3,000 people and very few people who can afford a $20 ticket a couple of times a week. So newer artists go from being a regular feature in a small town to a once in a while event.

There was a point this past Spring where the show prices of artists either fell into the $1,000 to $5,000 range (Travis Porter, Roscoe Dash, etc) or the $15,000 to $25,000 range (Yo Gotti, Waka Flocks, etc). While I absolutely LOVE seeing artists get money, I can’t help but wonder what the promoters did who needed shows in the $5,000 to $12,500 range. Sadly, I know the answer--they stopped doing rap shows. They couldn’t make money. The artists who commanded the higher price point ended up doing spot dates in bigger markets, and couldn’t tour properly because the economics didn’t make sense. I worried about Gotti and Waka when their planned tour ended after just a handful of dates. Touring not only brings in income for the artists (and now the labels) but it also promotes the artist amongst the fans all over the US. Not being able to perform in Albany, GA or Columbia, SC, or Nashville, TN hurts the artists, the fans, and the industry as a whole.

So when I pulled up SoundScan last week, I noticed that very few rappers have gone Gold. The artists who’ve sold the most are the mainstream pop acts, the artists like Black Eyed Peas, Lil Wayne, Kanye, Rick Ross—the ones who’ve already built their careers on a solid foundation. The ones who no longer need the smaller markets or the smaller clubs to make a living.

Here’s the light at the end of the tunnel: bullshit comes to light very quickly and the folks that will remain after all of the dust settles, are the ones who were passionate enough to ride out the turbulence and stick it out. The artists savvy enough to think longterm and who realize that it’s better to work for 7 nights at $2,000 a night, instead of once a week for $10,000, are the ones who will have the staying power and the solid careers. The rest will fizzle out and go by the wayside. Natural selection at its best!