Perhaps the next step will be groups formed for the sole purpose of providing investment in musicians as if they were entrepreneurs, with the money used by the artist to hire others to help with production, branding and marketing.

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Many bloggers and others have been discussing the success of Jonathan Coulton, “code monkey” turned full time musician. A recent NY Times article highlights what has driving Jonathan’s success – his personal interaction with fans. Many bands may already realize this is the best marketing tool, but this article makes clear what a full time job it can be.

Says Coulton: “People always think that when you’re a musician you’re sitting around strumming your guitar, and that’s your job,” he said. “But this” — he clicked his keyboard theatrically — “this is my job.”

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Seth Godin’s Music Lessons, a blog about things to learn from the changing music industry, offer many good tidbits to ponder:

(1) The role of digital music is or will become solely promotion. This is because digital music is in unlimited supply, and a market of value can only be created from something of limited suppply. Another recent blog goes further to state that the role of music management will eventually be reduced to promotion only, as musicians can now cheaply and effectively create, edit and distribute music themselves – all roles formerly taken by labels, producers and managers.

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David Bryne’s recent piece in Wired Magazine had some great quotes and points that highlight the themes and reasons for V11.

The music business today: “At some point it became a business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over. But that’s not bad for music, and its certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists.”

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Dave Kusek states in his new book, The Future of Music, that since live performances and t-shirts cannot be digitized at least at the moment, the experience of being at a live event is going to have to get more appealing for bands to survive in the coming years.
This is likley true, although I think [...]

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The Radiohead decision is fascinating and no doubt highlights how the radio industry is now starting from ground zero in determining how to function in the digital world. That alone warrants substantial discussion. For up-start bands, though, the question becomes what to do if there are no record labels to finance their growth?

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