Does Music Still Stir the Soul?

Does Top 40 radio speak to you? Does popular music make you feel anything besides confusion as to which sound alike band is being shilled to you? Does music still stir the soul of the masses?

It's no secret that CD sales are way down over the last few years, and while downloads of certain artists are there, does that method really work for the Indie? Is it possible to make a decent living as a touring musician anymore? Is any of that actually the point?

In order for our music to stir the souls of others, it has to stir ours first. We have to have a passion for it. Sure, there's some success associated with the prefab kinds of acts that permeate the radio these days, but what's the shelf life of your throw away pop princesses? The Miley Cyrus's of the world may have the business savvy, or management that does, to build a small empire, but how many songs of theirs can you actually name?

The more I think of the way this game is played anymore, the more I think I'd be much happier writing music that I enjoy and hope that it touches others. If it doesn't though, I'm okay with that, cause at least I know that I love it. In the grand scope of life, that's all that really matters. I'm going to stir my own soul, you can listen in if you'd like.

It's a new frontier for the Music World. Almost daily we're seeing new innovations, issues, technologies, and lawsuits in the digital music world. The funny thing though, is we're also seeing greater and greater sales figures there as well.

I'm starting to think the long life arc of the CD is going to be cut short for this ever growing, and always controversial medium. We're seeing a larger number of artists being thrust into the spotlight by more unconventional methods. Whether it's my "favorite" Disney creations like Miley or the Jonas Bros and their TV shows, or Fiest and her huge iPod ad, or MTV's Making the Band series, we're seeing the new music moguls always reaching ahead for the new technologies, the new marketing ideas, and the next best way to stand out and at the same time lower their costs.

Face it, more can go into promotion and marketing if you don't have to pump said money into duplication and production. It's a different world now, and we've got to roll with the waves or be drowned in the surf.


http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/mp3-compatible-music-campaign-unveiled-481711

Only a matter of time?

Discmakers isn't wasting any time. Within a week of announcing their purchase of CD Baby, they're now in the process of launching Elite Artist Services, a nice little place where established acts can go when their tired of playing the Major Label game.

Offering services like Duplication, Merchandising, and DISTRIBUTION, it may well be just a matter of time before, like MP3.com, the Indie artists at CD Baby are completely overshadowed by the likes of NIN and Radiohead.

What could this "potentially" mean for Indie artists? The Worlds only Indie distribution company being flooded with the NEW Indies, former Major label acts that want to have more say in their music? Well, it could mean that, as Indies, we'll have to start stepping up our game. Or, it could also mean that the playing field just got leveled. I guess it depends on how you approach your music.

I'm not trying to hate on any artist who wants to have more control over their work, in fact I think that it'd be awesome if all artists had complete creative control, it would do away with the "Disney Creation" acts like Miley Cyrus and Vannessa Hudgens. We could stand to weed out the fodder a little bit.

The wheels of progress never stop.