Sounds like everybody's crying the blues. Many, many Independent Labels and Artists are facing serious difficulty now that Tower Records is being liquidated.
The worst thing is that there was plenty of warning. Tower went into bankruptcy without much real hope of ever coming out as the kind of retailer that they were when they went in. Cash flow was already reported to be a problem and what Indie would think they would be at the front of the line to be paid?
Unfortunately, the same thing that helped to kill off Tower will also kill off many Independents. Internet sales. Some of the Indies will get it and prosper - the Indies who don't will disappear.
For those Labels and Artists who do grasp Internet sales - especially Digital Downloads - this is a magical moment. They will be able to say that they were There when the playing field was leveled in a way that had never existed before. How is that?
One - No more huge costs of physical reproduction of the music. Make a master - upload it and the distribution to the retailer is completed, whether you sell one download or zillions.
Two - add to that the hidden costs that quickly become very visible which includes things like shipping, or driving physical inventory to various sellers. This is really serious when you are in another country or on another continent than the one you want to sell on. Look at the tremendous music being produced in Africa. Now that artist can take a few minutes to upload a master and that's that.
Three - No more bad contracts because there is a monopoly distribution chain that can't be penetrated unless you are with certain players in the market. If you can produce a song you can upload it. If people anywhere, anytime, like the song, they will buy it.
Four - No more accounting nightmares. We use third parties (DRMNetworks and CCBill) to protect the music and to handle all of the financial transfers associated with the sale of a download. You don't need to take our word for what happened. In fact, we don't even touch the money unless it is too small an amount for the third party to issue, which is a few dollars. Anyone selling enough music can go online and look at what is happening everyday. The third party splits off your royalty and sends it directly to you. What major label has ever allowed that?
Five - Microsoft. Yep. Since Apple is doing a classic Apple and working from a closed system, the market is ripe for another open architecture take over - count the PC/Microsoft users out there and compare. There is no comparison - and the gap in music players can be closed much quicker than most people realize. I want a player that will allow me to have flexibility - not lock me in. As soon as Microsoft releases theirs expect a flood of new music buyers - ready to buy your music, if your download service will allow it to be played on many players.
So why are so many Indie labels and Artists crying the blues? Maybe most of you are not. It might just be more fun to write a story about sadness and pain than about everyone finding a better way.
Testing has begun on our new Digital Download system. We will go live very soon and we have Artists and Labels queuing up to be put into the system as quickly as possible.
I personally knew someone in the top circle at Tower so I don't feel good about that, but Tower had plenty of time, finances and connections to have jumped on Internet Sales and Digital Downloads - much more than most of us who are in the game - so it's hard to feel very sorry for them. They acted as if nothing ever changes - when we all know that everything changes, constantly - either going down or ascending. Which do you want to do?
Internet Sales
Digital Downloads
The rest of you can continue to pin your hopes on physical CD's if you want to.
