Major labels have finally hit the iceberg. CEOs are scrambling for a seat on the lifeboat as they scrounge around for new business models that can keep them afloat. With onslaught of ad-supported music websites, social music networks, streaming internet players, and direct artist downloads, the industry is yet again undergoing evolution. 

This is not the first time corporate dinosaurs have blamed technological advancements for unwanted shifts in music consumerism. In 1978, record sales dropped because of cassette tapes, and in 1983, an upstart cable channel called MTV revolutionized the importance of artist appearance. International retaliation sprang up as musicians claimed, “Cassette taping [was] encouraging pirating and killing music,” and television coverage of bands was depreciating artist authenticity. Regardless, major labels jumped on the bandwagon, and huge corporations, like Sony, put more money towards the trend, selling their own cassette devices and making MTV the face of the music industry. To their resilience, Sony Music, along with Warner Music Group, EMI, and Universal, teamed up with CD distributors such as Caroline Distribution and other corporate giants like Ticketmaster and Best Buy to create an empire over new music marketing resources. 

Wouldn’t it be ideal to see a band use the internet and other resources available to them without a hierarchal ladder of corporate assholes? Radiohead may be the most talked about poster-children for possibility, but then I ask how long they climbed up it before they took a leap of faith on their own. It’s a double sided debate when the musical universe at our fingertips and it’s still hard to find a way to beat the corporations to the punch. Consequently each make their moves accordingly; Joe Slayer sits at home spending hours perfecting his myspace, as record labels scramble for digital alternatives and EMI’s CEO lays off artists reps for digital programmers. Indie record labels are concerned with their resources, artists are concerned with their accessibility, and big corporations are concerned with their six figure losses. So who is running the music business now?

Major labels refuse to back down that easily as they look towards the big picture, in all sense of the phrase. Artist appearance, endorsements, paparazzi footage, gimmicks and outlandish performances are their staples of success. Artists like Lil Wayne and Fall Out Boy are guaranteed promos in Virgin Megastore as well as on the shelves of Mom and Pop record stores across the country, as most 14 year old rockers are guaranteed to recognize Patrick Stump’s photo on a cardboard cutout. But the importance is not so much on the CDs as it is the promo itself. The more they see his face, the quicker they conclude that he’s the second hottest thing to Paris Hilton. It is obvious that CD sales will no longer indicate their success, so fudging a couple scandals and attending more photo shoots than band practices is basically the idea. 

With so many bands spanning across the genre spectrum, it’s harder now more than ever for the average Joe Slayer to get his metal songs out in the music world against these tactics of media imaging. From a report by the Forrester Research report, digital sales will grow at an annual rate of 23 percent over the next five years, and downloaded music will bury CD sales in the year 2012. The music industry is media-driven rather than music-driven, and the more the artist is plastered over the internet, the more likely they are to sell their music. Torrent sites and other ad-supported downloads make it difficult for artists to stand out when a million other bands just like them are at the convenience of online connection. Majors still have the right of entry to many of the new resources that makes them still on top. So then the plight of the music industry rests in its accessibility. The only force that can safeguard us from these monster labels is the consumer, artists, and other investors that have power of the necessary evils of consumerism. They’ve formulized their plan and despite losing big names like the Eagles, Radiohead, and Nine Inch Nails to independent distribution, the business is still grounded in networking and marketing. The only way to thwart the evolution into revolution is by completely cutting them off which is seemingly impossible.

The easier it is for major labels to team up with mp3 providers and live concert promoters, the harder it will be to encourage unsigned artists to survive without them. Young musicians watch Live Nation cough up $120 million for a 10 year contract with Madonna, offering a one stop shop for concerts, records, merchandising, etc. and wonder how the hell they are going to make it on their own. So even though the corporations smashed hard and almost took a nosedive, they are patching themselves up nicely allowing for more monopolistic opportunities to take them into new directions.