I’m guilty.
Being a millennial, I have to accept a sliver of the blame for the continuous downfall of the music industry. However, going into the world of journalism, print media, and digital PR, I hope to apply what I learned from the downfall of the music industry so that other media industries can adapt and overcome.
I am not applying what I have learned to specifically save any piece of a media industry. No. I am aiming to create a new business model for them to adapt and prosper with. I’ve understood a few factors that I think other media industries can learn from the music industry to help them progress through the 21st century.
The first is that there is a lack of great music which often gets confused with “commercial.” You can find great music all day every day, there is evidently a surplus. That’s because so many musicians try to be great in the commercial sense. When really, when a musician releases music that is remarkable, worth talking about and passing to a friend, then you have great music. Other media industries need to realize what it is that gets talked about. Is it the products they create for the mass, the commercial, the revenue? Or is it the products they create for the passionate individual, the human inquirer, and the loud mouth?
A second factor involves looking at how musicians are making their money, not how the music industry is making money. Most musicians make little to nothing from selling CD’s, selling their work on iTunes, or any other form of technological distribution. They make their money from playing at venues, going on tour, collaborating with other musicians to play at a huge festival, and asking for direct donations from fans (most recently utilizing Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sources which I call devotedfanfunding). They don’t sell music anymore, they sell an experience. Once other media industries realize that producing content isn’t what will get them to survive, we may see them pick up and push forward, refusing to meet the same demise of the music industry.
The last variable is built from the previous experience concept. Other media industries must focus either on an individual or small group of like-minded individuals, tribes. You can no longer market to the mass; it’s proven ineffective, especially in the music industry. Think about all the music that is out there, presented to billions of people, yet the music industry is still crumbling. The factions of the music industry that are prospering are those groups which have faithful fans. People come together to connect with other fans, synchronously sing the lyrics, and exchange what next event of the musicians they will be going to. It’s the tribes that are keeping the music industry alive, shifting, and possibly raising it back on its feet.
Other media industries need to realize these paramount shifts, these core variables if they wish to keep their industry going.
