WHICH MAJOR LABEL ARE YOU ON?
The funny thing is that Gibbard is the key to one of my theories about the latest wave of rock music. I don't think it will have that much to do with the major labels. These first waves of artists are or were on independent labels at one time. Modest Mouse signed to Sony to make their break. Thursday signed with Island records, which is a pretty major player in the industry. So what big label did Gibbard sign to? The Postal Service is on Sub Pop, which is one of the most famous indie labels in the world due to their success with Nirvana in the early days. Surely after the success of The Postal Service, Gibbard took his other band Death Cab for Cutie to a major label. Right? The answer is no. Gibbard and his band mates felt comfortable with the situation they had grown to know at Barsuk, their indie label in Seattle. They knew they could get the attention that their band needs from their label and decided to try and grow with their current label.
This was all but unheard of in the past. Signing the first major label deal was one of the obvious stepping-stones for bands. So what makes it different this time? In order to understand this, it is important to realize what the big labels were able to offer bands in the past. The biggest thing in the past was recording an album and paying a producer. The next thing was probably marketing. The bands and artists needed someone to pay for their videos so they could get played on MTV. They needed big labels to work out relationships with the radio stations to get radio airplay. Finally the artists needed the big labels to help them book tours. Today, many of these tasks are either unnecessary or can be handled by just about any independent label. So what did we need big labels for?
INDIE'S JUST AS GOOD AS MAJORS?
First of all, bands needed help paying for recordings when their best home recording option was a four-track tape recorder. Most bands have access to much better equipment now. Markets around the country have more studios available than ever before so the cost of producing a professional sounding demo is lower than it has ever been. Big labels used to be needed for distribution of that album if and when you were able to get your masterpiece produced in a real studio. Now distribution companies are more efficient and the market is more mature, so smaller labels can get their albums in major chains around the country just like the big boys. Plus anyone can sell CD's on the internet now.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
craid, i definitely think that the lack of mtv influece, coupled with the lameness of rock radio...make the whole situation very perplexing.
if radio wasn't so regimented then maybe some life would spring back into the whole mess.
a couple of weeks ago i was doing a bunch of yardwork. we had the radio on tuned to one of those 'modern rock' stations. i swear, after about 4 hours i got the feeling that they kept on playing the same staind/korn/incubus/linkin park tunes over and over and over...kinda gross.
2 - Craig Lyndall
Exactly right Mark. And the thing is, that I think it is slowly making them obsolete. They are ruining their own business. They can only exist for so long without contributing something positive to the music industry. Technology combined with their myopia will make them disappear.
3 - Shark
Craig,
I don' t think it's as much a "new" trend in rock one should expect (I would argue in a post-modern world, there are none) -- but rather new trends in technology that will (and are!) having a huge effect on the music biz.
You didn't mention technology much, but don't you think it's safe to say that various technologies are making radio, 'studios', labels, and distributors extremely marginalized?
One can wed a computer with some relatively inexpensive software, and record a million $ sounding piece in one's bathroom.
Add the internet - word of mouth - file sharing - guerilla marketing, etc. and you can see the music industry as we know it sliding off the radar.
Which is a good thing, imo: rock has always been primarily about anti-establishment rebellion -- and everytime it's co-opted by some corporate pimps, it wriggles out of the grip for another glorious, revolutionary fifteen minutes.
"I think the changes in the industry are conducive to a prolonged stay instead of the ebb and flow that has been so drastic in the past."
True and false; the top 40 crap will continue as always: here today - gone tomorrow, only to be replaced by the act du jour.
As you said: alternative material will: "...have a whole lot of bands splitting up the market."
A WHOLE LOT OF BANDS. And if we're lucky, we'll see artists who put out material for years (decades), but only sell 50 to 100 k cd with each shot. But that's been enough to sustain many from my era, the 60s/70s.
Lots to ponder, and thanks for the jump start.
4 - Craig Lyndall
I agree Shark. I didn't want to dork out too much with the technology, but it is one of the major reasons that I think the changes are occurring.
I wanted to make the point that radio stations that are concerned with keeping more costs down than quality of content, are adding to their own marginalization.
Finally, with the lower cost structures, 50k-100k CD's sold will be more than enough to make some money and support a tour.
The ultimate thing is that I think it will be good for the fans. That is until the government starts taxing the internet. But that is a different discussion for a different day.
5 - Mark Saleski
the impact of technology (both in the making of music and at the consuming end) will unfold slowly over time.
i sometimes wonder about the effect of the 'one-box'...where kids use the computer as their all-in-one entertainment/socialization system: email, instant messaging, music, video, etc...
personally, it kinda creeps me out.
6 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Craig, nice work here, man. You share some of my own thoughts on the innovation-excitement-decline cycle of rock music. Persoanlly, i am undergoing a serious resurgence of interest in "contemporary" acts after a long period where i could find nothing of interest in the music press and so sought out all that old stuff folks in Mojo would bang on about. The Libertines, Frans Ferdinand, Velvet Revolver, Andrew WK, these things make me smile.
I do think, however, there is a danger of being short-sighted on the assumption that onlt music with guitars and power-chords can be of any real worth. I realise the following statement may invoke cries of rapturous derision, but i haven't heard a record rock as hard as "stripped" by christina aguilera in a LOOOONG time.
7 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Plus, the fact that Morrissey got to no.3 in the UK chart with his latest single "Irish Blood, English Heart", only being held from the top by those two folks shouting about fuck you to one another, does make one feel like something great must be going on.
8 - Craig Lyndall
I would say that if you check out Iron and Wine, Death Cab for Cutie, The Dismemberment Plan, Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, Mogwai, Pedro the Lion, Minus the Bear, The Velvet Teen and others you will be quite surprised to find that the power chord is being passed right on by in many rock circles.
9 - Vern Halen
No, doubt, as it always does, rock will reinvent itself & come to the forefront of popular culture - after all, that's part of the cycle where the edge becomes the mainstream and then the old school. I think the question this time around is, just how long can this last? The cycle seems to be getting shorter & shorter every time, to the point that whatever's cool now is gone before twelve months have passed. It's hard to build up a catalog and fan base familiar with that catalog in so short a time.
As far as radio goes, forget it. As a force to promote art & culture (POP art & culture at that!), they shot themselves in the foot a long, long time ago. They continue to be basically irrelevant to the cutting edge.
10 - ClubhouseCancer
So, to further the Great Rock Revival of 04, why not post a little review of some recent thing you really liked?
I'll start.
Destroyer: Your Blues
Destroyer is Dan Bejar (of New Pornographers), and his new album is a strange thing of great beauty. Made of mostly acoustic guitars and vintage-sounding synths, it's all sort of fey and Hunky-Dory-era Bowie.
I think the cryptic, allusive lyrics combined with the insane catchiness of the tunes are what keep me coming back.
The Wednesday Morning Download column on Salon pointed me to two free download tracks, and they are two of the best songs on the album, and here they are if you wanna try Destroyer:
Long live rock.
http://multimedia.mergerecords.com/audio/destroyer/ItsGonnaTakeAnAirplane.mp3
http://multimedia.mergerecords.com/audio/destroyer/TheMusicLovers.mp3
11 - Craig Lyndall
Thanks Clubhouse, I will check those out.
I just got a copy of Time in Malta from Equal Vision records and if you like hardcore/punk, you will really dig it.
If you like acoustic stuff, check out Iron and Wine.
12 - dimas
ist cooollll
13 - madhatter
I stopped listening to the radio a looooong time ago. They cycle the same set of songs every 2 hrs, give or take 10 mins. And the songs they choose are so squeaky clean (yes the 'rock' songs), they make me ill. And why do the singers all sound like they just reached puberty? Doesn't anyone know how to SING anymore?
I enjoyed reading this, good job. I also grew up listening to all the 'grunge' like SP, PJ, Nirvana, Mudhoney, as well as sublime, bad religion, etc. I feel bad for the kids these days... they all love Good Charlotte and Linkin Park. It's a shame. I personally believe music tends to recycle itself into something a little more palatable every 15 yrs or so. The next cycle is just around the corner, so keep your chin up :)
By the way... my first two cassettes i can recall owning were BoysIIMen and A.B.C. That's what the radio fed me in my younger days. And i know i'm not alone :)