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The
Emerging Musicians Market - A Music Industry Opportunity For independent and home-based recording artists the future has never been so uncertain and exciting. However, recently I read an article where the writer expressed his experience of posting his works in numerous online forums only to discover an underwhelming lack of listenership. He goes on to postulate on the less-than-cohesive distribution avenues that have emerged and the fact that marketing and advertising is a challenge for the serious-minded participant. Marketing and advertising is not something for the faint-hearted. Market optimum reach in a target market is a little less than 3 percent. This means that if you squarely reach one hundred consumers who are amenable to your genre, style, look, fashion, etc., etc., (not to mention your music) you'll get less than 3 takers. If you can reach 1 million, though, that resolves to 30,000, which is a respectable number. There is true power in numbers and the music industry definitely has numbers on their side and that translates into market leverage. Guaranteed market leverage is a sellable commodity to an emerging market of musicians that want to be heard without having to become marketing specialists. It's hard enough just making music.
So, could independent musicians really become another market segment for the mainstream music industry...? You bet! Smart musicians will come to the realization that the music industry is an industry - not the evil empire. There is no way that you would want them to go away or institute changes more quickly than is safe for them to undertake. But nobody will wait forever. An industry is made of people who make decisions - perhaps not always in your best interests. Individuals in the music industry that hold decision-making power can and will be replaced - and things will change. The notion that the music industry will cease to exist or make drastic changes is wholesale naiveté. In fact, I will predict that you will see no perceived change in the music industry business model in the near future with the possible exception of expansion into new market segments - like the musicians market. Indeed, this is something they have long needed to do. When it comes to reaching the masses with music products, independent artists are at a horrifying disadvantage and wherever there's a disadvantage there's a revenue opportunity attached. While it may be justifiable to hold the music industry in contempt for their insipid behavior, we are none-the-less inexorably joined at the hip. Musicians should be aware that there is power in their own numbers. The world wide musician community has tremendous breadth and depth. Look at the explosion of electronic musicians' products in the last ten years - the recent buyout of Emagic and Steinberg - and now the Apple and Universal news story. Big companies get into the game when the game gets big and independent musicians are starting to get big. Musicians with cash to spend and aspirations of making a statement help to drive high-quality, professional product offerings at moderate prices. Dance, hip-hop, electronica, loop-based products are priced for the budget-minded musician. There's something for everybody in every genre and in every country. An average independent musician can now produce a product that can compete in quality with commercial products with a relatively minor investment in resources. This has never been the case before. Sooner or later, some independent artist is going to break the glass ceiling and deliver something so compelling that it simply cannot be ignored. This is the tear in the fabric that the music industry should be wary of. Once it becomes apparent that independent artists can develop firm revenue models, then the music industry will see the line that stretches around the block diminish. They will have to start competing with open market avenues and entrepreneurs for talent. It would be smart not to wait until that happens before they act on the clear opportunities. You can either make dust or eat dust. The music industry should lead the way into the next iteration of their model - not react to an ad hoc version of it. I hope they have learned something from the Napster phenomenon.
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