The NY Times posted an article the other day on the new structure of the Music Industry and one particular venture, Polyphonic. Polyphonic is headed up by big names in the music scene: Radiohead’s manager as well as some top tiers from Nettwerk Music Group. No doubt that these guys know what they’re doing.

However, there has been much talk recently on the future of the music industry, where its going, how people are going to make money, etc, etc. Some companies, like Polyphonic feel like they’ve got answers. This is my opinion on the matter:

This has been boggling my mind for a couple days now. Basically what they’re doing here is getting the bands to do all the work (which isn’t a big deal because any serious band would already be doing this), and throwing $300K at them to help with the expenses. This may sound very enticing to a lot of people, however I’m curious to know whether or not that money is recoup able. If so, the likely-hood of a band actually doing so is pretty far fetched.

The problem any of these labels, music companies, whatever are facing is the same across the board.

ALBUMS ARE NOT SELLING… and it seems like people at Apple are the only ones trying to solve this problem (read more about this here).

Everyone’s solution to this is “screw the label”.

As a musician, the only way to make money now a days is through licensing, touring, and merch. Sure, if you’re signed to a label, they probably rape you on your take.

The $300K that Polyphonic is throwing around is nice for helping with promotion and recording costs, but that’s a lot of money to have to pay back – if and when you do, life will be pretty sweet as long as you keep yourself on soundtracks and stay confined to your mobile home.

Obviously Polyphonic is going to be picky with the bands they choose to ‘invest’ in (it will probably be the ones who’ve already got a massive online following). This is actually quite offensive in a sense that many musicians are now going to feel like the only thing attributing to their popularity is the amount of cash they’re able to throw at vendors to help them out, and not their actual musical talent. But this is a good example of how Social Media is turning out to be a huge factor in decision making in the business world.

I’m not being a complete critic, there are a lot of perks to this new venture. What I get from it is that it’s operating as a giant management firm, giving artists a fair cut of the profits (assuming they pay the borrowed money back).

Sounds like there are still a lot of issues to be worked out. I guarantee hundreds of bands out there are inspired to get back to writing in hopes they’ll get involved with this venture.

I can go on and on but I think I’ll end here. Good luck to all the indie musicians out there and I truly wish the best for all of you! If you want to talk more music, email me.