Bradley,

I enjoyed your paper, and thought it was more effective than Dana seems to imply. I have some thoughts about the trend towards "Artists Without Record Labels.” As Justin brought up, one of the reasons why artists in the past were willing to give up so much control of their careers is because of the necessity/desire for cash up front. In the past, a major barrier to recording an album was the cost of studio time. Anyone who has spent any time recording in a studio knows how prohibitively expensive it can be. Record companies used their ability to pay for studio time as leverage over new artists, creating a barrier to entrance into the music industry. Independent recording and production of an album was simply not an option to a new artist. However, with the recent decrease in the cost of quality recording equipment and the widespread availability of studio-quality recording software such as Pro Tools and Cakewalk Sonar, anyone with a computer, an internet connection, a bittorrent program, and a few hundred dollars worth of gear can create a studio-quality album at home. One no longer needs to hire a sound engineer, as Pro Tools and Cakewalk can be quickly learned by anyone with basic computer skills.

Because the barriers to entrance into the music industry which were relied upon by record labels are breaking down, and the digital world allows anyone to easily digitally release their album all over the world, it seems likely that in the not-so-distant future record labels will only function as concert promoters and marketing assistants, and will eventually be completely phased out.

(I added a comment box. I hope that's okay.)

-- ScottMcKinney - 02 Dec 2009

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