I happened to catch “That Thing You Do” over the weekend. You know, that Tom Hanks movie about the one-hit “Wonders”. Anyway, it was an interesting insight into the nature of the music business at that time and it made me think about the time I spent working in the music industry back in the mid 90’s.

There is one fundamental concept that the music industry in those days (40’s, 50’s & 60’s) has on the music industry of today. If you look at it, the flagship product of a record label at that time was the single. Albums were secondary. Labels had caravans that took their artist around the country and showcased their roster to a swarm of fans. These bands would play a few songs and then head on their way. For the most part, that doesn’t happen today.

I believe that it should.

Think about it, with the advent of the MP3 and services like iTunes, the consumer has the opportunity to buy the song(s) that they like and not be force-fed an album of 2-3 good songs with 7-8 fillers. So, why do these artists and labels still need to act this way when they should be focused on selling great music. Learn from your predecessors people. Let the idea of the single reemerge.

Here’s another idea. Where do artists usually make their money? Most would think that it’s on albums - it’s not, it’s in touring. So, why not think of your singles as your “marketing materials”. Give them away in anticipation of gate receipts. Your ROI would be incredible - especially in this day and age where technology has revolutionized the recording industry and greatly reduced the costs associated with quality recordings.

Labels used to offer something called “tour support” - they don’t do that much anymore. Why not? Why don’t labels put on the tour and spread the cost of the production across 4-6 artists on their roster? Better yet - scrap the whole idea of royalties and put your acts on salaries with a bonus structure. This will free them up so that they can mature in the industry and have long term success.

This idea will require a complete overhaul of the way the music industry operates. However, if we agree that the music industry needs to focus back on the “single” then everything else will flow from there.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 9:44 am and is filed under Business, Marketing.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.