yeah, I was reading that yesterday and getting all inspired. just thinking about the beginnings of Def Jam makes me feel lazy for not being about it already. glad to hear they're giving him some pretty big decision power status.
still trying to wrap my brain around his music subscription theory for the future.
good read but god damn ricks beard game is outta control lately. He looks like this bum that i had to chase away with a baseball bat at my old job. He was eating out of the dumpster and peeing on cars in the parking lot.
not a bad read will he save columbia and the music industry?
he's so magical lol
I agree. It did get heavy on him "saving the music industry." But that's just a writing thing to make your subject seem more important. Anyway it was a pretty good read. The writer did some pretty good weaving of themes and story lines.
What I think is very interessting is the inner perspective of the label and the outer vision.
And the main problem that is mentioned by pointing out that the music industry sells art, not ANY kind of a product. And that the decisions are only made on some economical views and not on artistical views.
I mean you need both, but the problem is that the artistical decisions where forced out of the business by the economical ones.
I dont know how it is in the states, but here in germany I have sometimes the feeling that the people who work in the record business are college dropouts who thought that economic classes where boring and they want a little bit more action in their live, but dont know shit about music.
I dont know how it is in the states, but here in germany I have sometimes the feeling that the people who work in the record business are college dropouts who thought that economic classes where boring and they want a little bit more action in their live, but dont know shit about music.
You're not the only one. It's the same deal here in the US.
Part of the crisis has been made "in-house" by the majors themselves, no doubt about it. They are also partly responsible for the lack of quality that many albums suffer from these days. But most artists are happy to play the game that way and most indy labels are not that different. Sales figures are at an all-time low while the market is flooded by more new releases than ever.
But this the only/slash main reason why young people don't buy music anymore?
The article nails is pretty good:
"The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don't consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it's just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That's how they hear about music, bands, everything."
Cool article, but he does kind of sound like a clueless old man.
The great innovation with which he proposes to save Columbia is... online street teams!?
He actually goes a bit deeper than that. Most importantly, he's looking for great artists. Rubin does have a strong sense of taste which may or may not translate into consumer zeitgeist. Only time will tell. Still, I gotta believe he would do a better job than lots of these other tools have in the past decade.
Second, he sees a bigger industry picture which being in charge of Columbia he will have a role in shaping. Will they find a new economic model that allows them to prosper? God knows but at least he isn't standing still.
"The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don't consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it's just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That's how they hear about music, bands, everything."
Did they really need to set up teams of interns to figure this out tho? They could have grabbed a high school kid off the street to come in on day one and he would have told them all this in the first ten minutes.
But it's going to take a huge over haul and doing something drastic. The point is spot on, that if the major don't do something in the next couple of years, it's going to come crashing down and someone like a microsoft or google will come in and pick up the pieces on the cheap and do what has to be done.
I will say this. I like Rick being involved. Someone who actually gives a shit about music. I bet there are plenty of fat cats in suits saying he's a commie hippie wanting to take food out of their kids mouths.
Cool article, but he does kind of sound like a clueless old man.
The great innovation with which he proposes to save Columbia is... online street teams!?
He actually goes a bit deeper than that. Most importantly, he's looking for great artists. Rubin does have a strong sense of taste which may or may not translate into consumer zeitgeist. Only time will tell. Still, I gotta believe he would do a better job than lots of these other tools have in the past decade.
Second, he sees a bigger industry picture which being in charge of Columbia he will have a role in shaping. Will they find a new economic model that allows them to prosper? God knows but at least he isn't standing still.
Naw, I know: he understands that a comprehensive overhaul is required, but now that he's been in the job for a few months, he has acknowledged that he doesn't really know how to effect it.
And when you get down to the immediate specifics of what he's proposing, he sounds clueless.
He has, I think, inadvertantly hit upon one of the keys to survival, though: as long as you are pitching a hard product, pitch it to old people (everything he's messing with sounds like old people music).
Cool article, but he does kind of sound like a clueless old man.
The great innovation with which he proposes to save Columbia is... online street teams!?
He actually goes a bit deeper than that. Most importantly, he's looking for great artists. Rubin does have a strong sense of taste which may or may not translate into consumer zeitgeist. Only time will tell. Still, I gotta believe he would do a better job than lots of these other tools have in the past decade.
Second, he sees a bigger industry picture which being in charge of Columbia he will have a role in shaping. Will they find a new economic model that allows them to prosper? God knows but at least he isn't standing still.
Naw, I know: he understands that a comprehensive overhaul is required, but now that he's been in the job for a few months, he has acknowledged that he doesn't really know how to effect it.
And when you get down to the immediate specifics of what he's proposing, he sounds clueless.
He has, I think, inadvertantly hit upon one of the keys to survival, though: as long as you are pitching a hard product, pitch it to old people (everything he's messing with sounds like old people music).
I think that remains to be seen. Certainly the Gossip ain't moving at Starbucks. I agree it's hard to imagine him dealing with up and comers after 2 decades of dusting off former legends. but dude clearly is in it for the music which is generally a young persons perspective.
I dont know how it is in the states, but here in germany I have sometimes the feeling that the people who work in the record business are college dropouts who thought that economic classes where boring and they want a little bit more action in their live, but dont know shit about music.
You're not the only one. It's the same deal here in the US.
Actually for the most part most of the major labels are all business grads with no clue about music... not college drop outs. All about bottom line.
I am not sure that the answer rests on one person, and I don't see the industry ever having the types of profits that they had in the late 90s/2000. Its a different market. I think Rubin is on the right path as far as actually listening to the music and really pushing to create great music over the next hit. However i think that any type of sales of music is winding down outide of collectors. It will be around for awhile, but again, until the majors realize they need to pull the hard product for almost a strictly digital catalog they are going to continue to lose money. Maybe Rubin can help them better understand that they need to overhaul their business model.
djsheep
3,620 Posts
Comments
thanks sheep
not a bad read
will he save columbia and the music industry?
he's so magical
lol
still trying to wrap my brain around his music subscription theory for the future.
Peace
Hawkeye
I agree. It did get heavy on him "saving the music industry." But that's just a writing thing to make your subject seem more important.
Anyway it was a pretty good read. The writer did some pretty good weaving of themes and story lines.
And the main problem that is mentioned by pointing out that the music industry sells art, not ANY kind of a product. And that the decisions are only made on some economical views and not on artistical views.
I mean you need both, but the problem is that the artistical decisions where forced out of the business by the economical ones.
I dont know how it is in the states, but here in germany I have sometimes the feeling that the people who work in the record business are college dropouts who thought that economic classes where boring and they want a little bit more action in their live, but dont know shit about music.
You're not the only one. It's the same deal here in the US.
But this the only/slash main reason why young people don't buy music anymore?
The article nails is pretty good:
"The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don't consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it's just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That's how they hear about music, bands, everything."
The great innovation with which he proposes to save Columbia is... online street teams!?
^^^ MAD THAT HE DOES NOT HAVE HIS OWN ONLINE STREET TEAM ^^^
You must not be familiar with www.soulstrut.com, young.
He actually goes a bit deeper than that. Most importantly, he's looking for great artists. Rubin does have a strong sense of taste which may or may not translate into consumer zeitgeist. Only time will tell. Still, I gotta believe he would do a better job than lots of these other tools have in the past decade.
Second, he sees a bigger industry picture which being in charge of Columbia he will have a role in shaping. Will they find a new economic model that allows them to prosper? God knows but at least he isn't standing still.
Did they really need to set up teams of interns to figure this out tho? They could have grabbed a high school kid off the street to come in on day one and he would have told them all this in the first ten minutes.
But it's going to take a huge over haul and doing something drastic. The point is spot on, that if the major don't do something in the next couple of years, it's going to come crashing down and someone like a microsoft or google will come in and pick up the pieces on the cheap and do what has to be done.
I will say this. I like Rick being involved. Someone who actually gives a shit about music. I bet there are plenty of fat cats in suits saying he's a commie hippie wanting to take food out of their kids mouths.
Naw, I know: he understands that a comprehensive overhaul is required, but now that he's been in the job for a few months, he has acknowledged that he doesn't really know how to effect it.
And when you get down to the immediate specifics of what he's proposing, he sounds clueless.
He has, I think, inadvertantly hit upon one of the keys to survival, though: as long as you are pitching a hard product, pitch it to old people (everything he's messing with sounds like old people music).
I think that remains to be seen. Certainly the Gossip ain't moving at Starbucks. I agree it's hard to imagine him dealing with up and comers after 2 decades of dusting off former legends. but dude clearly is in it for the music which is generally a young persons perspective.
Actually for the most part most of the major labels are all business grads with no clue about music... not college drop outs. All about bottom line.
I am not sure that the answer rests on one person, and I don't see the industry ever having the types of profits that they had in the late 90s/2000. Its a different market. I think Rubin is on the right path as far as actually listening to the music and really pushing to create great music over the next hit. However i think that any type of sales of music is winding down outide of collectors. It will be around for awhile, but again, until the majors realize they need to pull the hard product for almost a strictly digital catalog they are going to continue to lose money. Maybe Rubin can help them better understand that they need to overhaul their business model.
we'll see.
thats a very scholegic word
is that you with Rick Rubin?
by Mingering Mike
ya. we was burnin' sage (for real) in the now defunct Cello.
back story plaese
This is awesome and all but it would've been MUCH better if you had posted it in the Craziest Shit That's Ever Gotten In Your House thread.
was in the studio with my homeboys