I was talking to my manager today and lamenting about how labels aren’t developing artists anymore, or even signing them unless they are already making a ton of money and how music venues aren’t even promoting shows anymore and just relying on the artists to do all the work. Well, unfortunately artists aren’t always good at doing those other things that build their business, they’re good at being artists, so a lot of good music is not even getting heard because the people that used to take a chance and build careers with artists aren’t doing it anymore because they think that folks like you won’t spend your money on music.
So it seems to be a total catch 22. Artists can’t get professional business support until they’re already making money, and they can’t make money until they have professional business support. And in the meantime, you guys, the fans, are missing out on a lot of good music. So how do we fix this? Everybody on the business side keeps offering up their opinion, but I keep wondering if they’ve ever asked the fans. So here we go.
Why aren’t you guys buying as much music as before? (and this was happening before the current economic downturn, so just assume that the economy was like it was 5 years ago) What would make you buy music again when the economy gets better and you have more money in your pockets?