You’re on vacation in New York City, how magical.
You marvel at the towering buildings while hopscotching over human sh** as your make your way to Times Square, the hub of the Big Apple.
As you approach, you hear the grainy shouts of what can only be a deranged lunatic with a fanny-pack microphone shouting about the end of times from his perch in Times Square.
(This lunatic looks exactly like me, but I assure you, it is not me.)
Oddly enough, the homeless (but charming) young man isn’t preaching the Bible.
Rather, he’s holding a sign that says:
“THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IS DEAD 💀”
You, an independent artist, approach this psychotic (but charismatic) young man as he shouts into a sea of uninterested listeners.
You keep your distance to avoid his inevitable smell… but you take a seat on a bench nearby out of curiosity.
The man ascends the famous red steps in Times Square and restarts his monologue:
“Hear ye, hear ye, my name is Michael -
(a coincidence)
“and I am here to warn you about the end-”
*police siren*
“-about the end of”
*taxi honks horn*
“- the end of the”
*police siren*
“….. the end of the music industry”
“Once upon a time - the world needed music.
Before the internet, there was no way to try and make sense of this senseless world.
There were no rabbit holes to fall into. Only what you were told…. and nothing else.
And if what you were told conflicted with how you actually felt…..
…..well that’s where music came in.
Protest music, slave hymnals, punk rock…. all great musical movements emerged from an oppressed class of people pushing back against the institutions that oppressed them.
And these movements, like a secret language amongst the people, would spread like wildfire.
Eventually…. the demand for this music would become so large that the traditional labels would be forced to acknowledge and fund these emerging movements, otherwise another label would (and make a boatload of money along the way).
WHO’S WITH ME SO FAR?!?!
A naked man in a Cowboy outfit runs past. A woman selling candied nuts collapses from the heat. 10 police sirens echo in the distance.
The man continues:
“This cycle of musical renewal persisted for ages…. until the 2000’s, when everything changed.
The emergence of streaming platforms, combined with an era of extremely low interest rates resulted in an extreme perversion of the music industry.
Streaming should’ve bankrupted many of the traditional record labels.
But because it was so cheap to take on debt… labels simply acquired their competitors instead of pivoting their business models.
The man starts descending the steps looking right at you.
“As a result, over the past few decades, the music industry has consolidated into a few major players that run everything…
The threat of ‘another label’ signing an emerging act has all but disappeared… which means new musical movements no longer have the leverage they once did.
What used to be a grassroots-driven industry has become entirely pay-to-play… where the only music getting covered by the major media outlets is by folks who paid for the coverage.
You look over the man’s shoulder and see one of the huge LED signs in Times Square light up promoting a new album from an independent artist.
“What about that artist? He seems to be getting some recognition…” you think to yourself.
“See that guy?” the man points to the LED sign.
“That guy paid $10,000 to get his music on that sign….”
You sigh.
“The media outlets no longer cover emerging music for the same reason traditional labels don’t sign emerging music…. it’s not profitable in their archaic and outdated business model.
You stand up…. frustrated…. and shout at the man:
“If everything is so broken… then why is it still working?”
The man, now right in front of you, leans in close…… smelling of marijuana and fear.
“Because no one even knows it’s happening.” he whispers.
“By acquiring all of their competitors… traditional labels no longer have to worry about emerging artists eating away at their profits.
This means their entire budget can be spent on marketing their existing artists.
And when you can spend millions of dollars on marketing… you can convince people that everything is perfectly normal.”
Immediately, all of the screens in Times Square display the new album artwork for a major label artist. Every frame of every screen is promoting the same artist, resulting in an overwhelming cascade of promotion.
Busses and taxis fly by with advertisements for the same artist. Flyers are scattered on the floor for an upcoming show at Madison Square Garden.
“Look around… who here is going to believe that any of this is broken?”
You sigh again and sit back down.
“No one knows the music industry is fundamentally broken because the music industry owns the media outlets that should be reporting it…”
…..
……
“So what do we do?” - you mutter dejectedly.
The man smiles, walks away for a brief moment and returns with a beaten-up cardboard box.
He hands it to you.
You open the package and find a fanny-pack microphone engraved with the MAD Records logo, just like the man is wearing.
“We spread the word.” the man responds.
“The only way to change the industry is to bring the TRUTH to the peopl-”
The man is suddenly swarmed by Times Square PD, beaten, and cuffed before being thrown into the back of a police cruiser.
….apparently he had some outstanding parking tickets from when he lived in FiDi.
But as they shove his head into the back of the cruiser… the man looks at you one final time and shouts:
“THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IS ALREADY DEAD, SPREAD MY WORD!!!!!!”
…………
You look down at the fanny pack microphone and instinctively toss it in the trash.
“What a weird man” you whisper to yourself.
*police siren*
If you enjoyed this SubStack then you are a strange person. Be sure to subscribe here:
Long live good music.
- Michael from mad records
Revalution= revaluing of the art itself will cause revolution
That ish needed to die. An industry of pervs, bigots, and zealots been needing a take over. One of the shadiest people in the industry once complained about its shadyness and how it needed to be taken over. There is a revalution coming to the industry. The real will remain the fake will not escape. I pray MAD Records Stays on the side of the real in the Kingdom of Light!