Brian Bergeron

Less than 12 hours until I leave for NACA…Hopefully this will be a great and profitable experience like I’m hoping it will be.

I was thinking again about Radiohead and their new album, In Rainbows. Their record deal expired and instead of finding another record label, they decided to release it on their website as a digital download for any price that the consumer feels it is worth. That means you can buy it for FREE, $100, or $5.20 (like I did). I was surprised but it was met with a ton of criticism from the industry. Well, that’s not true. I know labels are incredibly nervous by the move but I didn’t think artists and consumers would be against the idea. The way I see it (and I don’t claim to have a monopoly on the notion…I heard about it a lot in my classes in college), we won’t be paying for recorded music much longer. At least not directly. I wouldn’t be surprised if in five years record labels had completely ad-supported websites where people can access music FOR FREE but there are advertisments everywhere…

…Which leads to the live music industry. Thanks to Live Nation, Clear Channel, Ticketmaster (they may all be one in the same, I think) and the increasing cost of touring (gas, productions, etc.), ticket prices are through the roof. Has it hurt concert attendance? Sure, but there are plenty of expensive tours that still sell out. It’s hurt my concert going experience. I don’t go to half the amount of shows I used to. I’m just curious if concert tickets will become so exorbitant that eventually tours will be sponored by corporations (more than they are now even) to offset ticket prices to make them more affordable. Imagine Wilco taking a set break…No, imagine a lesser band…errr…imagine James Blunt taking a set break to spin commercials by Geico, Herbal Essences, and Viagra…It’s scary but we might be headed in that direction.

The two themes of my four years in music industry college classes were: “We are all screwed” and “There has never been a more exciting time to be in the music industry.” Now that I have accepted that I will never go the corporate big label direction with my music (at least it’s not part of the plan), I mostly toss out the theme and believe it or not, I am an optimistic and am excited to see what the next 5 years will bring to my career because of the changing paradigm of the industry. Only the resourceful will survive! Those who cannot adapt will perish! Bring it on!

Ideally, and I dream about being an altruistic musician often, I will be able to record almost limitlessly. I would love to be able to devote myself exclusively to music (and not have to deal with some of the business stuff…though I do realize that No musician can survive today without a bunch of business savvy) and record an album a month. I would release each album on my website and allow the consumer to dictate the price. After re-couping the studio expenses to record (and in this dream I am rich from a successful live performance career…so I don’t have any re-couping expenses) and all the proceeds can go to charity. This is a plan for serious fans only. At the end of the year, voting will determine the best 12 songs from the year and the following year I will release and album of the strongest material (voted by the consumers) and repeat the whole cycle. I would love to have it so I don’t have to make ANY money from recordings (because let’s face it…not many artists are making money from recorded music anymore) and can make my living mostly from live performance and related tasks.

…Wouldn’t that just be nice.

I’m just thinking all of this because I have been conducting a bunch of interviews for my new internship positions (which I will ellaborate more on when I have downtime at NACA) and have been reflecting on the state of the industry.

I’m never NOT at work…and that may be a bad thing to some but I love what I do.

Peace