Is The Music Business Dead?

The title by no means signifies that music is dead. No, because as long as humankind exist there will always be music. The issue here is the business of music dead? As record stores become extinct and record labels start to go the way of the dinosaur, is music no longer a money making endeavor? Especially with the advent of the internet, music has been able to diffuse faster but due to the lack of regulation of the web, profits are not what they used to be.

I, for one, am for the decentralization of the “Industry”. Who made the labels the tastemakers of what music should be? Very often many great bands go unsigned because they don’t fit into a marketable mold. And then we have the flip side of talentless tarts who get deals thrown at them because their shallow existence is agreeable to the paying public. For christsake people, Heidi Montag “sang” at the Miss Universe pageant last night. How is it she can be beamed into millions of living rooms across the nation and people in America don’t know who Muse is, and AC/DC & The Ramones are not part of music history? (personally, I did an independent study on the Sex Pistols sophomore year)

Maybe I’m being myopic in my stance. Labels are great at infusing money into the early careers of musicians, but the money is always paid back several times over. Musicians only really make money off of tours and sometimes merch, but CD sells always go back to the hand that feeds. My Basic belief is the money should go to the artists mostly and less to the companies. That’s just me. What do you think? Let Me Know in the comments.