(Read part 1 here.)
In the previous post, singer/songwriter Angie Stevens gave an independent artist’s take on the music business. Today, we continue with the same Q&A from a manager’s perspective, with Angie’s manager and Boss Koala Records co-owner, Mike Lavelle.
Q: What’s happening in the music industry these days?
MIKE: That’s pretty much the million dollar question. The industry is clearly changing, but where it is headed is anyone’s guess. There is an abundance of music, with most available free in some form. Pandora, Spotify and the like are making almost all music available to everyone, for free. And with the ability for practically anyone to record music, there’s virtually more than any one person can take in.
Photo: Shelby McQuilkin
For this post and the next, we have the opportunity to get an insider’s look at the state of the music business, from two distinct viewpoints: artist and management.
Donald Passman is one of the most prominent music/entertainment lawyers in the business, and is the author of All You Need to Know About the Music Business. In this video clip from Artistshouse Music, Passman discusses the changes in the music industry and where he thinks it is going in the next few years. Bear in mind as you watch this–the video was shot four years ago. It’s interesting to note how much of what he predicted is already happening.
From ArtistHouseMusic…the widget below contains a series of video clips of Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records (think U2) as he talks about various aspects of the music industry today–including a lot of insight for independent artists. These clips were filmed at a seminar at Loyola University in New Orleans. There are a lot of clips here, but it’s worth taking the time to watch them. See what you think.
Photo: Phorget the Philm Photography (CC license)
A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to do an interview for Examiner.com with guitarist-vocalist Todd Park Mohr of the band Big Head Todd and the Monsters, a band with over 20 years’ experience in the music “bidness”. I bring it up here because in the course of the conversation he weighed in a little bit on the current situation with A&R with the major labels–something we’ve talked about here before.
You can read the entire published interview here to get the full context, but here’s what Todd Park Mohr had to say on this issue:
