Don't you pity the major labels too?

I had a fascinating discussion yesterday. A friend of mine, with no background in the music industry, highlighted (with pinpoint accuracy) the downfalls of the major label system. In particular, the major labels are losing revenue streams and have to cut costs and opportunities in order to survive. At the same time, artists are getting far more savvy, and they feel the need to walk away from the hand that (claims to have) fed them for decades.

More specifically, the major labels had a great game going for years. They'd recoup the cost of recording, manufacturing, and distributing an artist's release out of the profits of the album. Anything left over would either pay off debts from lesser selling albums, or if no alternative could be found, then the money actually went to the recording artist. It should be noted that this was the least preferable option to the labels.

Either way, the advent of the Internet and the mp3 cut many costs way down. The artist was now selling a digital good which all but eliminated the manufacturing process, and the label was finding it increasingly difficult to pull money out of those binary bits which comprises the latest smash hit.

Now you've got major labels crying foul and using their bulldog (the RIAA) to stomp on illegal downloaders. Personally, I'm all in favor of this. No one should have the right to take something that a) isn't theirs and b) was never intended to be given away at all. Should the artist choose to make their music free, then fine. But in this case the RIAA, NARAS, and every label on the planet is right.

What's not right is the lame duck, head-in-the-sand attitude that makes up the Exec Teams at most major labels. Rather than find new ways to increase revenue, promote artists, and genuinely support and foster independent talent, their sole concern seems to be an effort to plead for mercy from a musical public who is hardly bemused by the hole they dug for themselves.

The "new" music business is very much a DIY operation. Radiohead shows it can be done as do hundreds of highly successful artists without the major label support. Get thee to MOG.com or Last.FM or Pandora, and check out bands that fall beyond the Sony-Universal-WB spectrum. You'll be surprised by what you find.

And please, BUY their music if they're selling it. Go to their gigs when they're in your neighborhood, and most of all -- enjoy the music!