Rants By Topic

Music Business

Louis CK Takes It Long Form And Suffers (A Marketing Allegory)

01.2.2017

Happy New Year! Louis CK. Horace and Pete. Hubris. Huck Finn. Lenny Bruce. Wayne’s World. Scrooge. Crack. Taking it long form. Marketing.

Roger CortonLouis CK? Why Louis CK?

JCHI recently saw a bootleg episode of this web TV show that Louis CK did called Horace And Pete. And it was a bit scary for me on several levels.

RCWhy?

JCHSorry for the detour, but you know how much I revere stand-up comedy, right?

RCRight. I believe you’ve even called it the most difficult of the performing arts.

JCHWow, you actually do stay awake during these things (laughs). OK, since Lenny Bruce, adventurous comedians have wanted to take it long form… go beyond comedy to real ‘storytelling’. Like Mark Twain. Just go into the realm of, I guess you’d call it ‘high art’.

RCOK. I seem to recall being told that Huck Finn was ‘great art’, so I’m with ya so far.

JCHCool. So […]

Priceonomics: The Economics Of Selling Out

09.18.2016

Culture, Music Business

Another great article from Priceonomics: The Economics Of Selling Out. A discussion on the tipping point between authenticity and popularity in music and politics.

$16.95 Doesn’t Seem Like Such An Odd Amount To Charge For A CD Anymore

04.6.2016

Music Business, News

Prices on CDs raised to $16.95! But hell hasn’t frozen over. Yet. But wait: there’s a totally cheesy sale on remaining CDs. But only if you act now! FAQ hypocrisy. Artistic worth.

Roger CortonJC Harris seems to have raised the price of his CDs to the industry standard $16.95. And yet–I’ll have to check the weather on my phone–but hell does not appear to be freezing over at the moment.

JCHI assume you’re referring to this:

$9.95 Seems Like An Odd Amount To Charge?

RCYes. So, the first question is: are you now eating your words? Could it be that your pricing model was, as (cough) some of us have suggested over the years, too damned cheap? Are you, like The Fonz, now ready to say, “I was wrrrrrrrrrrrrron….”

JCHEnough already. I feel bad enough […]

Will Streaming Music Kill Songwriting?

02.11.2016

Links, Music Business

If you’re interested in ‘the music biz’ on any level or popular music in general, I can highly recommend just about anything by New Yorker author John Seabrook, including this: Will Streaming Music Kill Songwriting?

Mr. Seabrook’s book The Song Machine is also tremendous read. It goes into interesting detail about how the vast majority of pop music is now dominated by such a small group of people. Eye opening.

Music Should Be Managed Like Money

01.14.2016

A great article on the scary state of the music biz.

In 2015, 52% of All Music Spending Went to Live Concerts

A couple of things to note: First, if you look at the graphs, teens spend more on those pesky ‘physical formats’ than millennials. My guess is that this is because teens aren’t yet ‘free’ enough from their parents to pirate as much. In other words, the parents still have a modicum of control and, old farts that they are, encourage the kids to get ‘real’ CDs. My next guess is that this will fade over time.

Next, in the comments, it’s pointed out that one reason ticket prices are now so high is because live gigs are the only way most artists can actually make a living. So they compensate for the loss in album sales by jacking up the live ticket prices. This makes perfect sense to me, even though fans will likely (and rightly) feel screwed. There’s also the question of gentrification which I won’t get into […]