I don't think that only the artist and the bands will be the ones who survive in this new media ecosystem.
We need to fix the problem of getting tens of thousands of bands to the potential millions of customers. If every band's expected to do their own marketing and music spreading then we'll end up with stuff like Soulja Boy and the Chocolate Rain kid. I seriously doubt you'll stumble upon the next Rush in a random YouTube video.
I wish we could say that Pandora and other online services are fixing the problems but I can't believe this is all we can do about it. I also wish I could provide a solution to this problem and cash in millions in the process :)
I'd say if all you're seeing is Soulja Boy and Chocolate Rain, you need to get around the net more and seek out some of the great independent music that's out there. Even on YouTube there's plenty of good music that has become really popular, like Pomplamoose. To me those guys typify a group that gets it. They've adapted their strengths to thrive in the new era. It's good, fun music that never would have survived in the old system but does now:
The idea of simply being creative with your music and relying on some system of promotion and distribution to hold your hand through an album-tour-radio-album-tour-radio cycle is dead.
It's unfortunate, but artists have to do things they're not used to doing: manage and promote, social media, new creative expressions that go beyond simple videos for songs. They'll have to learn to leverage the full range of visual content possible, create more 'meta' content that their audiences can stay engaged with.
That's the tradeoff: those old industry dinosaurs will die off, but the artists that survive in the new era will have to do things they didn't have to previously, or find someone else that can.
I'd say if all you're seeing is Soulja Boy and Chocolate Rain, you need to get around the net more and seek out some of the great independent music that's out there
That's exactly the problem. If I have to out of my way looking for it then I see a possibility of disruption. I personally might do this (because I love music) but I understand most people is not willing to do something more than open a YouTube video or take a quick look at a Wikipedia page.
I brought the specific cases of Soulja Boy and Chocolate Rain because people can relate to them (they know who they are). Pomplamoose might be great but I don't think they're anywhere near mainstream (that might be a feature instead of a bug but I'm not entirely sure yet).
Edit: I don't know why you're being downvoted but I think the idea of artists doing their own marketing is interesting. Stuff like this is what's making a living for people like Jonathan Coulton, but I still don't think every musician can (or wants) to do this.
Who can tell the vagaries of HN voting habits? It usually evens out.
I think the notion of "mainstream" is just as dead as the old industry models. Music audiences are more fragmented than they've ever been, and are learning to be more and more proactive in how they discover music.
Local live music scenes are thriving, even while most of the artists will never make a splash beyond their communities. Sites like http://one-track-mind.com and http://www.indabamusic.com, countless blogs like http://www.brooklynvegan.com have become popular destinations for music fans that want to find something new and more interesting than what passes for mainstream.
I suppose the new challenges that face artists also face music fans. Just as artists can no longer rely on industry hand-holding, music fans that want more than gagabeiberidolglee will have to be more proactive than they're used to being.
The good news is that there's a vast amount of talent out there and they're making high quality recordings cheaper than ever.
Man, I want to like Pomplamoose's music, but there's so little drive to the background :(
Maybe that's because the background seems to be built around the vocals, which is opposite what I'm used to- the vocals built on top of the background.
Yeah, I get they're not for everybody, and it's definitely on the fun and frivolous side. Not sure they have a Kid A or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in them.
But I do admire the unique way they've carved out a business niche for themselves and completely adapted to the new realities. Artists should take note.
I think you're right, and I think labels are helpful to certain artists (they provide a lot of capital, for a start), but they're not the only way for bands to get exposure.
Triple J Unearthed, for instance, is an Australian website (and digital radio station) attached to the Triple J radio station. Any unsigned Australian band can upload their music and have it listened to by someone from the radio station (as well as being freely available online for the public to stream or, optionally, download), and the good stuff gets played on Triple J. It's not a huge radio station - it has about 6% marketshare Australia wide (with I would guess 95% of that being in the 15-30 market), but it has massive market influence and has launched many massive Australian bands.
I don't think Youtube is (generally) a practical way for people to find new music either, but I also think that labels as we know it will soon be extinct, and that the music industry, for consumers and for artists, is in the best shape we've ever seen it.
I think I should clarify that I'm opposed to most record labels on principle. I think what Triple J Unearthed is doing is awesome and that's where I think a new player can come in, hopefully someone unrelated to the established industry.
We need to fix the problem of getting tens of thousands of bands to the potential millions of customers. If every band's expected to do their own marketing and music spreading then we'll end up with stuff like Soulja Boy and the Chocolate Rain kid. I seriously doubt you'll stumble upon the next Rush in a random YouTube video.
I wish we could say that Pandora and other online services are fixing the problems but I can't believe this is all we can do about it. I also wish I could provide a solution to this problem and cash in millions in the process :)