State of the Union

Last night, I read a rather lengthy post on www.gearslutz.com from an anonymous "well known producer" who had a few harsh things to say about the current state of the music industry and the associated affect on studios and freelance engineers/producers. Essentially, his contention was that the proliferation of the Internet and illegal downloading has led to the demise of the industry. He cited the fact that there are only 4 major record labels left in the world and studio after studio closures (including Abbey Road, although it was recently saved by the British Government) are putting professionals out of work. He went on to absolutely discourage anyone from choosing this as a profession.

First of all, illegal downloading isn't hurting the artists, it is hurting the labels, distributers, retailers and everyone in between. Artists have never made anything off of record sales anyway. For years, the labels lined their pockets with the artist's product and never thought twice about how they were taking advantage of them. My bet is on the fact that this "producer" spent his career as a corporate hired puppet of the labels that took advantage of artists at every turn and now he is bitching because his "services" are no longer required.

The fact is, music is richer and more accessible today than ever before and anyone can get in on the game. The resources of a label or a multi-million dollar studio is no longer required and we are all the better for it. Engineers and Producers who understand that the game has changed and are willing to embrace it will acheive greater success than ever before. Although technology now allows anyone with a pc or mac to record an album, software will never replace knowledge and that is the difference.

I'm guessing most people involved in music feel like I do....that this is something that we have to do...not something we ever chose to do. In the past 6 months, I have been exposed to more new music than I had during the entire 80's and 90's. That's a good thing, no?