Triplesourced
Reporting, musing and not to mention some random scribbling on tech issues from green/sustainable IT to security. (http://adonoghue.wordpress.com/)
Wednesday 10 October 2007, 12:36 PM
Has the internet created more professional musicians?
You might not "make it" but artists can feasible make a living selling their music and related merchandise full time - however while this is the theory I am not sure how this stands up in practice - and if is accurate we should have seen an accompanying rise in the absolute numbers of self-sustaining artists out there in the last five years or so.
Has the internet changed what it means to be an recording artist - the make it big or sink into obscurity proposition may have been replaced by a middle-way.
PreviousComments on this post
No, the Internet has not created more professional musicians. Rather, the Internet is a platform to the world and has inherently allowed more people to be aware of many unknown professionals who are not being marketed by major corporations. However, the reality for most "professional" musicians in the digital age has been mixed, especially when taking into consideration the realities that were exposed during the earlier years of the internet being used to distribute music. See the following article for a backgrounder: http://www.musicdish.com/mag/index.php3?id=7350
I have been a professional musician my entire life, no other "job". My family and I have always lived relatively comfortably. My wife and I have raised children to adulthood, we own a nice home, and I am not a "well-branded artist name" in my genre. I have been involved the Internet and music since the early 1990s. So, I have seen or participated in most of these inherent developments up to now.
The Internet has not necessarily "changed what it means to be a recording artist". Just because the Internet has opened up access to the worldwide consumer market to literally any artist, doesn't mean that the baseline or standards of success as a professional recording artist has changed. There is a difference between having ones music on iTunes via CDBaby (or one of the other numerous conduits), and actually selling ones music on iTunes... a big difference. We must consider that the "mainstream" music industry is still relatively new to all of this Internet music business.
And sadly, there are still a lot of poseurs where Internet artists are concerned. Most recording artists in this digital age should have learned that, beyond selling to your friends and relatives, it is necessary to market and advertise your music. In the final analysis, I am convinced that any artist with a reasonably decent sounding recorded product, can sell their music to the public if they are willing to engage a professional marketing campaign and advertise. Advertising and marketing is the key... See the following article for an historic example: http://musicdish.com/mag/index.php3?id=7691
