A Music Industry Run By Musicians?

This past week, I read an article entitled: “Reznor Urges Musicians to Ditch Labels.” For anyone familiar with Trent Reznor, this may not come as a big surprise. Frontman for the band Nine Inch Nails, which split from their Interscope Records in 2007 and is now an independent band, Reznor in recent years has been a strong critic of the music industry and a supporter of P2P file-sharing. In the article, Reznor is quoted as saying the following about the recording industry:

Anyone who's an executive at a record label does not understand what the internet is, how it works, how people use it, how fans and consumers interact - no idea. I'm surprised they know how to use email. They have built a business around selling plastic discs, and nobody wants plastic discs any more. They're in such a state of denial it's impossible for them to understand what's happening.

One of the biggest wake-up calls of my career was when I saw a record contract. I said, 'Wait - you sell it for $18.98 and I make 80 cents? And I have to pay you back the money you lent me to make it and then you own it? Who the f**k made that rule? Oh! The record labels made it because artists are dumb and they'll sign anything' - like I did. When we found out we'd been released (from their recording contract) it was like, 'Thank God!'. But 20 minutes later it was, 'Uh-oh, now what are we going to do?' It was incredibly liberating, and it was terrifying.

Indeed, Reznor is very accurate in his statements. The structure of today’s music industry creates a massive gap between the top and the bottom. Hundreds of thousands of artists struggle to make a profit while music executives of the big 4 (Sony BMG, Universal, EMI, and Warner) makes millions each year along with a small group of predominately mainstream artists. The music industries relationship with musicians reminds me of the relationship loan shark companies have with the poor. Taking advantage of the fact that most artists do not have the money or resources to record, produce, advertise, and distribute their first album, these massive companies are able to force artists to sign contracts in which they will get a very small cut of the profit, and oftentimes, even lose the rights to their own music. As Reznor states in the article, it should be the musicians that dictate how the music industry functions, as they are, after all, the ones making the music.

I was also particularly struck by one of the comments left by readers of this article that further highlight the fundamental flaws of today’s music industry:

I fail to see what the music industry really does for artists or consumers. Example: I just tried to buy the 'Cold War Kids' album online. I live in Ireland, so I can't buy from Napster or Amazon. I use Linux so iTunes is not an option - and anyway, installing bloatware so I can download an album is ridiculous. Comparison: I google a few well-chosen words and clicked three times - the album can be mind for free. Alternative: Go into the city and buy the CD. Extra (environmental & financial) cost of packaging, transportation, store markup... but: "Oh, sorry, we don't have that in stock". So tell me, what did the music industry do for the 'Cold War Kids'? Nothing. Last FM introduced me to their music. YouTube showed me their latest video. If the band had a sell-direct website and a PayPal account, I could have paid them directly, and they'd make some money. Actually, not just 'some' money, but almost the whole amount that I paid. As it is, they get nothing until I find a record store that stocks their CD, and even then, they just get a tiny cut. Fair? I think not.

Such descriptions leave me with the unsettling connection to the wall-street workers and CEO’s that, thanks to their greed and disconnect to the rest of society, have led to the current economical crisis.