This past Thursday's Wall Street Journal contained a review of a new artist named Erin McCarley.
I'm not interested in reviewing Ms. McCarley's music here. But what did catch my attention was the manner in which she has risen to some measure of popularity prior to having a recording contract with any major label.
As I have written elsewhere on this blog in prior years, including this post, it's only a matter of time before record labels are nearly useless. In that post, from October, 2006, I noted,
"The second one ran in yesterday's edition, and dealt with, ironically, how easy it now is for independent bands to become successful with little or no money, no traditional record label and, thus, no old media agent. Some indie bands do retain what one might call eagents, such as NetWerk Records, a combination indie label and artist management firm. This seems to support my contention that agents, as we have known them, will also be unnecessary for the coming era of online digital video content production, found here.
What's interesting is that established bands are also exploiting digital downloads, in order to capture immediate interest by fans. Rather than expect, or let, prospective buyers go to iTunes to buy and download music, they are embedding a MySpace MP3 player on their MySpace sites."
This is exactly what Ms. McCarley had done. The Journal article details her being paired with another musician to complete her own song-writing and singing efforts for a first album of work,
"As they cut the record without any outside funding- Mr. Kenney pulled together a band for the sessions- Ms. McCarley understood she could have a level of control over her career.
They sent out a six-song sampler to industry insiders and posted some songs on Ms. McCarley's MySpace page. A showcase performance at last year's South by Southwest Festival resulted in a bidding war for her disc.
Having a finished album they could distribute without a major-label marketing push, Ms. McCarley and Mr. Kenney negotiated from a position of strength."
I found and listened to her music on the MySpace page, just as the article described. They are full-length, high-quality tracks. The article also mentions her being featured on iTunes, with the opening track of her album available there for free.
It's wonderful to see such a seamless combination of technological and marketing/promotional channels occur to give small business people, i.e., a musical artist, the ability to start her career without the suffocating 'help' of a major recording label.
Instead, today's mix of free internet social sites, layered applications like embedded music and video, and iTunes have resulted in a talented artist building her own business and career her way, with minimal need for outside funding or technology.
Along with others, I foresaw this several years ago. But, with each passing year, it's evidently becoming easier to execute.
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4 comments:
While I agree with your main point here, the example you used (McCarley) isn't the best. Ms. McCarley had virtually ZERO awareness built before signing with Universal. It was her management company (who also manages John Mayer amongst other heavy hitters) who procured her label deal - not the SXSW showcase. Erin didn't get onto David Letterman without Universal's help. She didn't get that WSJ piece written about her without the label's publicist. She didn't get to have a song featured as 'iTunes free download of the week' without the relationship that Universal had with iTunes, and she's certainly not getting on the radio without the help of Universal's radio promotion staff.
There are plenty of other artists who built a story on their own prior to signing, but not this one.
You should read the article. She would disagree with you.
-CN
She might disagree but anyone familiar with the industry's inner workings knows better.
McCarley's album is tanking as of this writing and the single largest factor is probably the unfortunate choice of imagery in the album artwork and publicity shots: The Girl Voted Most Likely to Be the Object of a Frat Party Gang Bang.
Not only is it off-putting to female music fans, but it's a tip-off to people in related industry - music journalists, radio - that the label, in its heart of hearts, has little faith in the product and is taking the quickest, cheapest route to capture the attention of 17 year old white, heterosexual males.
So, yes, the case of Erin McCarley is indeed an example of the Majors' downfall, just not for the reasons you might think.
And Anonymous is correct.
Ms. Brace-
Thanks for your comment.
I understand your view that there is an inside world of music industry pros who are still determining the success or failure of artists.
But it seems to me that your comments illustrate my main point, which is that artists are no longer dependent on major labels as they once were.
Will every new artist going direct to MySpace, et.al., succeed? No. Will each of them make correct marketing and promotional decisions? No.
But I would expect that good artists with good material will flourish, even at a buck a song on iTunes.
-CN
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