The music scene has seen an explosion recently of well-known, big-label artists leaving the safety of their big labels and saying, “No thanks, we can do it better on our own.” What does this mean for the indie artists out in the world and on OurStage watching their ranks swell with the likes of Thom Yorke and Trent Reznor? This means good things.

TO STEAL OR NOT TO STEAL? STEAL, STEAL, AND STEAL SOME MORE
We know that the last decade of the music industry and the RIAA has focused on trying to bilk as much money out of the consumer as possible before the labels all finally completely collapse under their own weight. Trent Reznor has blogged about his label admitting they were selling his CD for $35 in Australia instead of the normal $22 Australian, because “You’ve got a core audience that’s gonna buy whatever we put out, so we can charge more for that. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy it. True fans will pay whatever”. And that’s entirely true. Trent also appeared recently in Australia encouraging his fans to steal his music if it continued to be sold for ridiculous prices, “Because one way or another these motherf@ckers will get it through their head that they’re ripping people off and that that’s not right.”

The artists who are moving to independence are the ones who frequently have been famously connected into their fanbase and cared that they were giving their fans a good deal and responding to their fans – like Trent Reznor screaming about $35 CDs and replying to personal e-mail from his fans on his website about the future of nine inch nails. As Jay Kay from Jamiroquai put his feelings about his label late last year, “These days it’s 18% music and it’s bloody 82% marketing bullshit … Next time I do an album, I’m gonna put it up on the internet for five f@cking dollars.” Their anger has been harnessed and joined the indie music revolution - growing the message of great, inexpensive music that you can buy when you want, without a label to tell the artist how to make their music or when and where it can be sold.

THE FIVE F@CKING DOLLARS REVOLUTION
While Jamiroquai might have been the first major artist to shout this idea from the rooftops, another famous English band turned out to be the first to put it into production. Earlier this month, Radiohead released their latest album online for a price of “Whatever you want to pay for it.” Fans could literally type in the price they wanted to pay as long as it was over the processing fee of .45 Pounds (About $1 US). Radiohead fans were given a folder full of decent bit-rate MP3 files for the cost of a decent lunch, or a full-size candy bar, if they liked.

Or, as Trent Reznor said in an interview this year, “I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, pay $4 through PayPal. ” Not a bad deal, especially if you’re one of the dedicated fans who paid $35 for his last album.

THE OURSTAGE ONTOLOGY IS RIAA ONCOLOGY
The best thing that could ever happen to indie musicians is a site (The name of which rhymes with OurStage) that swells into tens of millions of viewers a month, giving millions of views to previously little-known but talented musicians and filmmakers, who can now sell their music and market themselves to a massive audience with no contract, no middleman, and nobody passing them mere pennies on the dollar. Artists like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Jamiroquai have realized that their strength for years always came from their own brand and creativity, and not from what their label did on their behalf. Albums that didn’t stand up to fan expectations sold poorly but their best albums continue to sell. Good artists do not need a major label, as many famous musicians have proven time and time again - They can sell themselves. From now on, chasing a big-label record deal will be like chasing after the Hindenburg with a fire extinguisher.

It’s high time for the musicians of the world to step past the idea of major labels and have a chance to be sorted to the top of a fan-determined ranking for the pleasure of their fans and supporters, and become a leader in the chaos of the music industry. It’s time for OurStage.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 11:51 am EDT and is filed under OurStage Productions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.