Billy Corgan: Musicians Need More Than Viral Videos to Survive

This is a thought-provoking interview with Billy Corgan where he talks about the state of the music industry with particular attention paid to the issues of social marketing.  He speaks on

-The devaluation of today's music, often by the artists themselves

-The transformation of music culture into a service culture

-People don't trust enough to pay money for music

-For many new bands, fame has supplanted material success. 

But don't just ingest these simple bullet points. Put aside 15 minuntes and watch this.  Trust me.

Comments

[Nscafe]

Thought provoking. Good post.

It also appears as if Corgan is trying to say that Pop music doesn't have lasting power (but still may be very good music) and that one hit wonder of someone with ProTools in the basement as a so-called genius falls into that category. Fame can sustain artists for a long, long, long time... so long as someone else pays the bills (fans, patrons, labels) but as we've seen, that model is defunct.

I've often wondered why more people don't talk about the brands (artists included) they appreciate more (and instead choose to complain about ones they don't). As long as you don't be evangelical about the process, it becomes sharing the enjoyment that that brand brings (yeah, I know, it sounds slavish).

I liked what Amanda Palmer did with the Polly single for digital release. A minimum and then pay what you want. This, to me, allows for a fairly accurate sampling of what your fans are willing to pay you for your talent. You could call that the intrinsic value of the work presented. And none of that has to do with traditional consumption of music (call the radio... yeah right... share a link and tell people you liked it enough to buy it, that's a bit better).

Hell, if I could pay for subscription to The Secret History of Rock that by-passed radio that had a minimum and then pay what you want, I'd probably do it (the YouTube channel is free... and you get what you pay for... I'll listen to radio but I'm bootlegged the shows for my own archive so I'll suffer with ads).

[Christine]

Unfortunately society has decided that they don't want to pay for music anymore. And that's a greater force compared to the goals of the artist. In the past, bands and musicians depended on the business model...today bands and musicians have to become the business model to survive. And if you're going into music as a young artist expecting to make money, then you have to better find another path. Your approach should be that you're doing what you love doing, and that's the ultimate victory.

As for becoming viral, the Internet is basically become the new radio, but few see it as such. For those who recognize it, the next problem is overcoming obscurity. That's when the idea of making something viral comes into play, becoming more controversial, boundary pushing, and uber-creative. The problem is that everything has been done over and over again, how are you supposed to create something that maintains peoples attention? I actually yawn at some of the videos that are considered viral.

On the otherhand, with the music industry morphing into this giant soup of stuff, something has to give. The bubble has to burst, as it has done time and time again. Which ultimately means help is on the way.