Everything popular is wrong: Making it in electronic music, despite democratization

Hrhr thanks, very enlightening

  Quote

“In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 people.”

where are my 15 fanboys then?

i think if you make something good enough on its own merit in the digital age then it will keep bringing in some cash for years to come but this won't happen overnight

I don't care about money, I just want fanboys.

good article though.

If a few strangers enjoy your music, what more can you ask for?

  On 4/14/2011 at 1:17 PM, Gocab said:

good article though.

a sad sign of the the times for anyone wanting to give up thier day job but accessabilty to a more varied array of music is the trade off

if you want to jump on a bandwagon then being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right people is a more important factor

  On 4/14/2011 at 12:58 PM, soundwave said:

i think if you make something good enough on its own merit in the digital age then it will keep bringing in some cash for years to come but this won't happen overnight

did you just use the words "digital age" and "cash" in the same sentence when referring to musicians/artists!?

  On 4/14/2011 at 1:27 PM, Squawk2 said:

If a few strangers enjoy your music, what more can you ask for?

a few thousand more strangers?

  On 4/14/2011 at 2:17 PM, sirch said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 12:58 PM, soundwave said:

i think if you make something good enough on its own merit in the digital age then it will keep bringing in some cash for years to come but this won't happen overnight

 

did you just use the words "digital age" and "cash" in the same sentence when referring to musicians/artists!?

 

  On 4/14/2011 at 1:27 PM, Squawk2 said:

If a few strangers enjoy your music, what more can you ask for?

 

a few thousand more strangers?

Yeah but when you have thousands, you'll want 10s of thousands and so on -it'll never end!

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:23 PM, Squawk2 said:

Yeah but when you have thousands, you'll want 10s of thousands and so on -it'll never end!

You mean I shouldn't be happy with the occasional acid groupie backroom BJ and a few free pills from time to time?

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:26 PM, acidphakist said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:23 PM, Squawk2 said:

Yeah but when you have thousands, you'll want 10s of thousands and so on -it'll never end!

 

You mean I shouldn't be happy with the occasional acid groupie backroom BJ and a few free pills from time to time?

Freebies are good too

I wish I had thousands of fans so I could have a bunch of guys on an internet forum making weird speculations about me.

  On 4/14/2011 at 4:46 PM, Cryptowen said:

I wish I had thousands of fans so I could have a bunch of guys on an internet forum making weird speculations about me.

well if it pays the bills........

excellent article!

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:26 PM, acidphakist said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:23 PM, Squawk2 said:

Yeah but when you have thousands, you'll want 10s of thousands and so on -it'll never end!

 

You mean I shouldn't be happy with the occasional acid groupie backroom BJ and a few free pills from time to time?

Wouldn't the beards tickle your nuts?

  On 4/14/2011 at 6:44 PM, Dan C said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:26 PM, acidphakist said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:23 PM, Squawk2 said:

Yeah but when you have thousands, you'll want 10s of thousands and so on -it'll never end!

 

You mean I shouldn't be happy with the occasional acid groupie backroom BJ and a few free pills from time to time?

 

Wouldn't the beards tickle your nuts?

Everyone knows that IDM nerds hate acid!

  Quote

The overwhelming majority goes by unnoticed. The average “digital only” dance single generates around 100 Euros of profit, for both artist and label, now most often being the same person. And these figures go down, too. Today a couple millions artists try to reach a few hundred people. Or like the contemporary pun puts it, “In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 people.”

  Quote

The artists’ disillusionment leads to ever lamer results in music — why bother? A single produced hastily in two hours work sells 500 units, while a delicate masterwork moves 800 (plus a bit of beer money from Beatport). These figures are in constant decline, too. The market average first pressing of a vinyl 12″ is 300 units now, which regularly indicated sales below this figure (deduct records given away as “promotion” and to friends).

I'm not too sure about the conclusions drawn here. If you look at the averages, of course revenues will drop. As has always been, there's a small group successful artist. Not much different than before the digital age, I guess. But nowadays the quantities are so much bigger (and grow faster) that the average revue (for the entire market!) drops by volume growth alone. The volume growth outgrows the growth of revenue. In other words, all the 'amateurs' skew the statistics. Significantly more so than in the past. Sure, there may be more to this as well.

But there's some valid points to be made against the points made in the quotes. A masterpiece can still pay the rent. Just like it used to. It's just that the amount of people which can live off their music hasn't grown with the market. The group of those lucky few may be smaller. But you could argue that it might be a consequence of cannibalism introduced by the bigger market.

  On 4/14/2011 at 6:44 PM, Dan C said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:26 PM, acidphakist said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:23 PM, Squawk2 said:

Yeah but when you have thousands, you'll want 10s of thousands and so on -it'll never end!

 

You mean I shouldn't be happy with the occasional acid groupie backroom BJ and a few free pills from time to time?

 

Wouldn't the beards tickle your nuts?

lolirl

  On 4/14/2011 at 7:48 PM, goDel said:

  Quote

The overwhelming majority goes by unnoticed. The average “digital only” dance single generates around 100 Euros of profit, for both artist and label, now most often being the same person. And these figures go down, too. Today a couple millions artists try to reach a few hundred people. Or like the contemporary pun puts it, “In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 people.”

 

  Quote

The artists’ disillusionment leads to ever lamer results in music — why bother? A single produced hastily in two hours work sells 500 units, while a delicate masterwork moves 800 (plus a bit of beer money from Beatport). These figures are in constant decline, too. The market average first pressing of a vinyl 12″ is 300 units now, which regularly indicated sales below this figure (deduct records given away as “promotion” and to friends).

 

I'm not too sure about the conclusions drawn here. If you look at the averages, of course revenues will drop. As has always been, there's a small group successful artist. Not much different than before the digital age, I guess. But nowadays the quantities are so much bigger (and grow faster) that the average revue (for the entire market!) drops by volume growth alone. The volume growth outgrows the growth of revenue. In other words, all the 'amateurs' skew the statistics. Significantly more so than in the past. Sure, there may be more to this as well.

But there's some valid points to be made against the points made in the quotes. A masterpiece can still pay the rent. Just like it used to. It's just that the amount of people which can live off their music hasn't grown with the market. The group of those lucky few may be smaller. But you could argue that it might be a consequence of cannibalism introduced by the bigger market.

excellent points. i would wager that Flying Lotus doesn't have to work a day job

maybe even folks like Clark, Prefuse 73, etc .... make enough money to live free.

  On 4/14/2011 at 10:21 PM, vamos scorcho said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 7:48 PM, goDel said:

  Quote

The overwhelming majority goes by unnoticed. The average “digital only” dance single generates around 100 Euros of profit, for both artist and label, now most often being the same person. And these figures go down, too. Today a couple millions artists try to reach a few hundred people. Or like the contemporary pun puts it, “In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 people.”

 

  Quote

The artists’ disillusionment leads to ever lamer results in music — why bother? A single produced hastily in two hours work sells 500 units, while a delicate masterwork moves 800 (plus a bit of beer money from Beatport). These figures are in constant decline, too. The market average first pressing of a vinyl 12″ is 300 units now, which regularly indicated sales below this figure (deduct records given away as “promotion” and to friends).

 

I'm not too sure about the conclusions drawn here. If you look at the averages, of course revenues will drop. As has always been, there's a small group successful artist. Not much different than before the digital age, I guess. But nowadays the quantities are so much bigger (and grow faster) that the average revue (for the entire market!) drops by volume growth alone. The volume growth outgrows the growth of revenue. In other words, all the 'amateurs' skew the statistics. Significantly more so than in the past. Sure, there may be more to this as well.

But there's some valid points to be made against the points made in the quotes. A masterpiece can still pay the rent. Just like it used to. It's just that the amount of people which can live off their music hasn't grown with the market. The group of those lucky few may be smaller. But you could argue that it might be a consequence of cannibalism introduced by the bigger market.

 

excellent points. i would wager that Flying Lotus doesn't have to work a day job

 

maybe even folks like Clark, Prefuse 73, etc .... make enough money to live free.

i doubt Clark does. England is a fucking horribly expensive place to live these days without a job!

although he has been on Warp for about 10 years now... so maybe does. respect if so.

  On 4/14/2011 at 6:44 PM, Dan C said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:26 PM, acidphakist said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:23 PM, Squawk2 said:

Yeah but when you have thousands, you'll want 10s of thousands and so on -it'll never end!

 

You mean I shouldn't be happy with the occasional acid groupie backroom BJ and a few free pills from time to time?

 

Wouldn't the beards tickle your nuts?

acidphakist doesn't have a beard.

ok, read the article. agree with a lot of it, but i feel like he was just pulling those "800 euro" figures out of his butt to make a point.

  Quote

Everyone keeps doing the same thing out of the fear that the slightest deviation from the norm will scare away the small remaining, yet patient audience who goes along because of a lack of alternatives (we dance either because we paid or because the drugs kicked in).

oh no acidphakist !

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:26 PM, acidphakist said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:23 PM, Squawk2 said:

Yeah but when you have thousands, you'll want 10s of thousands and so on -it'll never end!

 

You mean I shouldn't be happy with the occasional acid groupie backroom BJ and a few free pills from time to time?

I didn't think girls liked acid?

Oh fuck someone did the joke before me

did anyone ear MR. BE UNIQUE's music? lol

  On 4/15/2011 at 12:03 AM, illfly mandog said:

did anyone ear MR. BE UNIQUE's music? lol

i almost did, but then i didn't. did you?

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:26 PM, acidphakist said:

  On 4/14/2011 at 3:23 PM, Squawk2 said:

Yeah but when you have thousands, you'll want 10s of thousands and so on -it'll never end!

 

acid groupie

wat