Unsettling Facts About The Music Industry
Who among us hasn’t dreamed of becoming a rock star? The wild parties. The adoring fans. The heaps and heaps of money. It sounds like a pretty sweet life.
And while it’s true the record industry doesn’t bring in the kind of money it used to, rumors of its passing have been greatly exaggerated.
But don’t trade your car for a guitar just yet, there are still a few things you should know before chasing your rock n roll dreams. Here are 25 deeply unsettling facts about the music industry.
1. The Buyer’s Market
Of course, those numbers presume you sell anything at all. There were more than 8 million songs released in 2011–that’s a lot of music! With so much music to choose from, you could easily get lost in the shuffle (no pun intended).
Of those 8 million songs, only about 1% sold more than 1,000 copies.
2. Payola
One sure way to get your music in high rotation is to pay the deejay to play it. “Payola” was a common, though unlawful, practice in the 1950s, when a popular deejay could make or break an artist’s career.
Legendary deejays Alan Freed, Phil Lind, and even D.Clark were embroiled in payola scandals.
3. Not Going Away-ola
Although congressional hearings in the late 50s led to a crackdown on payola, the practice continues to this day. In 2006, the three biggest record groups—Universal, Sony BMG, and Warner—all agreed to pay millions in fines for payola schemes.
4. The Loophole
Other “independent” groups have found a way around unlawful payola by buying sponsored airtime on radio stations. Spotify’s Sponsored Songs is an example of this in the streaming world. It’s technically lawful, but still sneaky.
