WS3 thoughts on the music industry.

[Hardbopjazz]

By Woody Shaw III

A certain long-time jazz "executive" just told me I was a "fool" (with emphasis) for not valuing the resources he provides through traditional jazz distribution. Oh, you mean the promotion, the international distribution, the packaging and shipping, the magazine ads, press releases, and payola that MIGHT earn you one or two, maybe five thousand record sales at the MOST? You mean all those overhead, ancillary costs that thousands of entrepreneurs are now completely bypassing and liberating themselves from through their websites, mobile apps, startups, through social media, and crowdfunding?

This shit is over. The music business is dead, held on to by a handful of luddite extremists who refuse to accept that we live in the 21st century, that the world changes and with all declination comes opportunity. The era of the self-professing Yoda figure inundated with unsold inventory and a graveyard of defunct copy-scanners and fax machines is officially OVER.

Any time someone tells you what is not possible, you can be sure of at least one of three things: (1) They have not tried it, (2) they failed miserably at it, or (3) they are scared shitless that someone else might succeed at it. In either case, none of these experiences gives them the authority to dictate the future of an entire art form; that is, who should hear it, how many people it should reach, what formats it should be distributed in, how it should look, what it should sound like, who its audience should be. These factors are no longer the sole province of senior business managers or self-started Depression Era / WW2 jazz gatekeepers. Your time is over.

The era when some old man sitting in an office determined the economic fate of artists (and their heirs) is officially over. As such, it is time for ALL artists to take control of their OWN destiny and not depend on Anyone other than themselves to perpetuate their creative, material, and spiritual interests.

The relationships are there, market is there now, the outlets are there, the inspiration is there, the creativity is there. This is the most disruptive time the creative world has ever faced in history, and since creativity is first and foremost about the independence of the artist, and at its most radical expression, about disruption, creatives must have the courage to live up to the mantel that they've chosen in being artists.

It is time to disrupt and disturb every force that stands to gain from the dependence of artists on hand-outs, debilitating validation, integration, and that stands in the way of raw change, artistic freedom, creative expression and independence.

I am right now in conversation about releasing some Woody Shaw in 2016, which will probably be the last material I ever release through traditional (jazz) distribution that does not contend with the realities of the 21st century. This is it. I'm done. My father, his generation, their predecessors, they paid the price. The era of indentured servitude is OVER. A reclamatory uprising is underway.

It is time for total independence now. Much music, and much more, to come.

Beyond All Limits.

—W3

 

 

 

 

[mjzee]

Hope he finds an audience.

[JSngry]

Imagine Strata-East with the internet...

Is now indeed the time?

Question, though - what about those who were not staked to a stockpile and a known quantity?

Nevertheless, the guy's right - the old model is not sustainable in the new reality. Now the question is - what will be?

[GA Russell]

I don't see how the digital era has changed the need for promotion. 

Even if an artist puts his entire album up on Spotify for me to listen for free, what will motivate me to go find it?  How will I know about it?

Way back when I had a positive attitude toward certain labels.  Is there a new concept which will maintain that?

[ejp626]

I suspect the problem lies in that traditional labels are doing far less promotion than they used to, expecting the musicians to do all the blogging and twittering and Facebook.  (This is absolutely the case in the publishing world and seems to be the case in the music industry.)  And just in general the contacts with the music press and the radio stations just seem to matter less as there is less and less of a connection between the promotion that the labels know how to do and sales (or really downloads).  So WSIII and others are asking where is the benefit of signing up when most of the scuffling is going to be on the artist's end anyway.

I think one will end up following artists and perhaps their friends if they happen to have a boutique label.  I really can't think of a major label that I have a positive attitude towards that would inspire me to look at their new offerings and buy something I wasn't aware of.  And I suspect that many people fall in this camp.  Maybe music or rather the music industry didn't die in 2000, but as far as I am concerned it is dead now...

[JSngry]

Not a question of if there still needs to be promotion, the question is now who will be doing it, how, where, and at what cost to the artist.

[xybert]

By Woody Shaw III

Any time someone tells you what is not possible, you can be sure of at least one of three things: (1) They have not tried it, (2) they failed miserably at it, or (3) they are scared shitless that someone else might succeed at it.

Whoa, i see myself in that a bit. Not that i go round telling people that things aren't possible or anything, but it's almost a subconscious thing that peeks above the surface in my own thoughts at times. Anyway, a good reminder for me to not be that guy (to myself, let alone other people).

 

[medjuck]

The internet has completely changed the means of distribution and the number of middle people between the artist and his/her audience has been reduced to zero. 

[mjzee]

But how does that artist acquire his/her audience?  The record labels were instrumental in finding/grooming new talent and showcasing them to potential audiences.  As Jim mentioned, WS3 has unreleased tapes of his father's, which I guess is a nice position to be in.  There is an audience for his music, based in no small part by Columbia's promotions.  Muse kept the flame going.  Even now, Mosaic is showcasing Shaw's music.  People know how to find Mosaic's website; they may come across the Shaw box while looking for something else.  If WS3 puts out a release, how will people find it?  Word of mouth?  Who will vouch for the sound quality or the music's quality?  (Look at photograph #2 above; do you want to buy music recorded on a TDK D90?).  And Woody Shaw is a known quantity.  Look at how many unknowns release their music via CD Baby (to get some idea, go onto eMusic's website and peruse their new release section).  Even though the music creator retains a far larger percentage of every sale, how many sales do you think they really have?

[Chuck Nessa]

Sounds like he was trying to sell some more tapes to Joe Fields and Joe wasn't biting.

[king ubu]

someone should tell him that thing about tone and music ...