One of the rare TV shows that I actually schedule time for each week is a show on MSNBC called Your Business. I always learn something and most of the time, lots of things. This past Sunday they reran a profile they did on Third Eye Blind entitled “A Rockin’ Business.”
It’s as close to a ‘Complete Overview of the Music Business of Today” as you can get in less than 5 minutes. I encourage you to watch it and pay attention to these points:
Noteworthy
- Control: About a minute twenty into the video, there are comments about the loss of image, musical direction and identity control. This is a fact of the music business. A bass player I worked with once said, “We’re just soap on a shelf” and he was right. Which leads to:
- Music Business 101: At 1:50, Stephen Jenkins says, “We made all the records, and they made all the money. It was a good bargain actually…” Yes it was. A record company will always make the most money because they invest the most money. The artist (just) invests time and creativity. If the act succeeds, the company makes it’s money back and more. If it fails, it loses all the money.
- Select Partnerships (2:40-ish): you’ll need help so choose your partners carefully. Find people with shared passions, but find innovators too because of the unknowns of today (which Stephen speaks about near the end of the interview),
- Money: They go on to explain that they’re making more money per CD and repaying themselves almost overnight.
Let me know what stood out to you in the comments.
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