Music distribution has changed and is changing by the day. Long gone are the days of A&R’s going to live shows looking for the next big act to sign. Most labels dont even have full time A&R’s anymore. Most major labels are losing money and have layed off alot of employees. The future of major labels is very dim, If it is your dream to get signed by a major label we think you should not count on it. Even the super artists are selling a quarter of what they used to sell. Nobody buys music anymore. CD floor space was taken away from best buy,walmart,and target this year and next year they might not even carry cds. People still use cds’s for there cars and stereo’s but nobody buys them everybody burns them, blank cds outsell artist cds 4 to 1. The future of music distribution is free music. Most labels are moving this direction. There are sites already in place to handle it. Spiral frog is one example for major artists, and wyplanet.com is a new site that has gotten alot of press and we think is still in test phase. We like wyplanet because it focus’s only on indie artists. Sites like CD Baby are basically a joke, nobody buys music from them, nobody! They stay in business by artist sign up fee’s. Don’t waste your money. Itunes and rhapsody are mostly for the major artists and that is all they will ever advertise. They dont support indie artist other than maybe letting you try and sell something on there site. It is all a waste of time, giving away your music free is the future of music distribution. How is it going to work for the artist. Well lets use wyplanet for example. They let you set up a myspace type a page then you upload and share your music thru your own player. Wyplanet pays the artist according to how much individual traffic your page gets. You post the player everywhere and it drives fans to your page in turn you build a fan base and get paid at the same time. Sites like wyplanet are the future of music distribution. All five of the major labels are setting up sites like this to give away all there music free. Some are talking putting actual commercials in between tracks, which I think would annoy the hell out me. Either way the future of music is free download. Limewire has been giving away free music for years and they are still up there and are never going away. I haven’t bought a cd in five years except at the occasional indie show where bands are selling there own cd. But as far as buying from a store, I am not going to do it, I do not support Major labels, If I like a artist I will download it for free as should everybody. If you are a band and you want to build your fan base there is no faster way then giving away free cds at shows. Free music is the future of music distribution.

• bookmark
  
  • Subscribe
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon