🔵 Universal/Downtown gets personal, but it all misses the point
Irrespective of who wins, nobody is working to raise the value of music itself
It was inevitable that the UMG/Downtown acquisition would get a little uglier at some point, but even I have been surprised by the rather outraged nature of certain UMG people relative to the indie sector's objections and comments over this move.
Earlier in the week Kenny Gates from PIAS launched a fiery salvo in the direction of IMPALA, and subsequent to that the two co-CEOs of Virgin Music have also expressed annoyance at the way they have been characterised.
Not all points are correct; Gates' claim that IMPALA did nothing whilst Universal battled TikTok is demonstrably untrue, for example. As ever, we should keep our bullshit filters well tuned to detect which points are genuinely valid, and which are simply spinning the narrative in Universal’s favour ahead of competition authority scrutiny.
In general though, much of the outrage seems focused around two key points: the notion that Universal's moves of late are bad for independent artists (and that those involved are perhaps mis-representing themselves as being genuinely passionate about those artists), and the idea that trade bodies speak for the entire independent sector.
Both certainly touch on rather thorny topics, the latter of which I have covered a fair bit before now (example here). From where I am sat, it does indeed feel like indie trade bodies might find it hard to claim they unilaterally speak for independent artists - an area which is growing larger by the day, but becoming ever more nebulous with it.
At the same time however, any claim that Universal is a force for good for indie artists is certainly troubling. In his own op-ed piece, for example, Gates references some of the real enemies as being private investment and the ongoing threat of AI. This seems to wilfully ignore two awkward truths: first that Universal itself has private investment in the shape of companies like Pershing Capital and Blackrock, and second that Universal is also trying to negotiate licensing deals with generative AI music platforms Suno and Udio (ironically, whilst also suing them for copyright infringement).
At the same time however, it is tough to combat his claim that IMPALA does not speak for everyone in the indie sector. Indeed, as I have written about previously, even defining "indie" is near-impossible these days, and there is certainly a sense that some indie businesses do not view themselves as being like other indie businesses (I would cite maybe Beggars and Believe as one such example), which only adds to the sense that there is not a unified front here capable of truly speaking as one.
This certainly creates a fissure that Universal and its spokespersons will be all too ready to exploit, and frankly it is understandable that they do. One might not like what is going on here with Universal hoovering up indie businesses, but at the same time, that is the nature of its business. Don't begrudge a shark for behaving like a shark.
As I have written previously, I hold a more contentious view that the majors are, if anything, panicking in the face of a wildly evolving landscape. Long-term copyright deals are a thing of the past; the entire model of exploiting copyright will keep profits up for a period, but it cannot hold in perpetuity. Alongside that, the freedom artists have will only really increase, because - as Gates also points out - they have significant freedom of movement thanks to much shorter contracts being signed.
Ironically though, what everyone seems to be missing at present is that if they want this entire space to have any value whatsoever, they need to invest into its future - and right now, few appear to be doing that. Simply offering artist services is no longer enough. If the value of music in general continues to race to the bottom, even holding a long tail of releases on short term deals will yield little back. Streaming is peaking, and questions are being asked about quality, amplified further by a steady flow of outrage stories about AI bands and suchlike.
In the face of that, investment into the culture of music itself is desperately needed. Put simply: more needs to be done to elevate the value we attribute to songs and the experiences we have listening to them. Owning old songs (and hoping for endless recycling of them) won't do that. Doubling down on streaming will not do that. Mercilessly treating fans as a cash cow to be milked by issuing pointless variations of albums will not do that. Ignoring that we need to nurture the symbiotic nature of the culture around music (formerly via things like radio, TV, press and so on)will not do that.
It all requires more - and it starts with a basic acceptance and understanding that music has a much greater value than is attributed to it at present. I don’t mean in the catalogue sense either: no industry can have a prosperous future if it is exclusively dining out on past glories.
Slowly though, it feels like the signs are there. Whenever I chat to artists - not big, headliner ones, but those in the small scenes and on the way up - there is a collective exhaustion with streaming in general, and that constant hamster wheel of endless promotion on socials. As I've mentioned many times before now, there is also that sense that Big Tech is more clearly attempting to ransack arts and culture to make it another commodity it can own and pump out at scale.
When you consider that all, ask yourself this: what are the massive music companies doing to nurture a growing industry in which the value of the commodity itself - artistic output - is raised?
They can all claim they are better serving indie artists, but in truth they are merely providing short-term deals with access to market. It tends to lie more on the value extraction side than the value creation one, in the sense that profits earned from these deals does not do much beyond creating more churn of artist deals. In that regard, it is something of a downward cycle.
Ultimately, big business is broadly in the game of value extraction. Do deals, make money, pay out to shareholders. This is why Daniel Ek is now able to funnel money into his latest venture, an AI defence startup, or why Lucian Grainge is able to receive gigantic payouts based on Universal's performance. It is also why the comments from the likes of Gates or Virgin Music’s CEOs ring a little hollow. Ultimately, you are selling up to a company that is not there to grow the value of music. It is there to grow profits for shareholders, by any means - hence moves like seeking to strike licensing deals with Udio and Suno, even if the very existence of those platforms is offensive to any artist I speak to or read interviews with.
In that regard then, options need to come from elsewhere. I feel they will, eventually; the seeds of discontent among artists and creatives is already there, and it is clear people are thirsty for alternatives. I’ve also seen a few great startups (sadly under NDA for now) that are really looking at how they can increase one’s engagement with music in a manner that is not shot through the prism of what Meta, Google, or TikTok need in order to juice ad sales on their platforms.
For that reason then, I remain optimistic. At the risk of repeating the same point: arts and culture is not a passing fad - it is a permanent, intrinsic aspect of humanity. The economy and market shares around music will shift - quite dramatically, I suspect - but arts and culture cannot be killed, and will continue to thrive, even if it might on the outer reaches for a while.
What I will say is that I still hold this view that where we are now feels a lot like where we were in 1999, just before the whole industry took one massive downward turn. That is not to say history will repeat itself, but certain qualities - massive arrogance being a dominant one - are certainly there, and those are the ones that tend to ensure Big Business does not see, or is wildly unprepared for, what is coming next.
Perhaps that is why I am more interested in taking a proactive stance rather than decry the constant negativity of all that surrounds us. I have maintained for a long time that this will get better, but only after getting a lot worse. We are still in that downward spiral for now, but all signs suggest that the alternatives, those next phases of music’s industry side, are all emerging, albeit in tiny ways. We should be engaging and nurturing those - and the smartest companies will be looking to get involved and own a stake of those ASAP too.
Have a great evening,
D.
🎶 Listening to various releases on the Challenger Deep label. Deep dubby ambience, sitting somewhere between Rhythm & Sound and Basic Channel is the order of the day here, and in this heatwave, it is perfect listening. It would appear much of it eludes streaming services, so I made a YouTube playlist here if anyone fancies checking some of the releases.
🤩 Hyped for the Black Sabbath farewell show happening at Villa Park tomorrow! feeling very lucky to have secured tickets, and cannot wait for what looks like one for the ages. Metallica, GnR, Slayer, Pantera, Anthrax, Mastodon, Alice In Chains and loads more, all coming to pay tribute to the legends - with Ozzy and co also stepping up. A crazy line-up indeed. I can’t wait. You can also livestream it, btw - details here.
📺 Watching “The Running Man | Official Trailer” on YouTube. When I heard about Edgar Wright remaking the Arnie classic, I was pretty dismissive, but this actually looks like it could be a fun watch.
🤖 Playing with Realphones. This is a system that aims to correct and flatten the (inevitably) non-linear EQ curve of your headphones, but crucially also gives you the means to model how your mix will sound on anything from crappy bluetooth speakers to a full-on club system. I was expecting it to be a bit of a novelty, but in truth it’s been a huge help in tightening up my own mixes on tracks. Worth a look if, like me, you tend to mix exclusively on headphones.
Other items of note…
A couple of months ago I appeared on the Modern Musician podcast, and the episode is now up to listen to on your podcast service of choice. There’s a YouTube version here too if you fancy it.
Our friends at Secretly Canadian are hiring a new International Marketing Manager. Full details here. Great company, lovely people, amazing job. What’s not to like?
As a veteran record producer, I can summarize this article in one pithy Mr. Rogers quotation - “look for the helpers”.
Real art is not found in commerce. Or, as Quincy Jones said, “when you chase music for money, God leaves the room”.
I cannot be bothered with the latest machinations of the suits, the hedge funds, the stockholders, the profit margins, or the distribution platforms. Real music comes from none of those things, yet they all depend on it. Cart before horse.
Yes, the distributor is king. From Hudson Bay to Marshall Fields to Jeff Bezos to Elon Musk to Lucian Grainge, et al, our world is strewn with examples of how the middlemen always profit the most, exploiting both the creator and the consumer. What else is new? Like Seth Godin once said, longevity is not in buildings, but in roads.
So, the suits and the pundits will wring their hands over the tea leaves and chicken bones and attempt to excite their venture capital overlords with the latest identity marker terms - “AI!”, “M&E!”, and all the other bullshit, meaningless jargon that clueless corporate types bandy about any given week to rationalize their pathetic existences, deep insecurities, and compensating, over-inflated egos.
Meanwhile, real artists will continue to make real art, despite all of those loser opportunists. And those of us that are focussing on what’s actually important, doing the actual work of making great art, instead of all this pablum we’re drowning in, already know this.
“we need to nurture the symbiotic nature of the culture around music” is a great way to put it, something I’ve been thinking about a lot!