The Grammy Awards as Revolution: a 50-year musical cycle
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I normally don’t watch the Grammy Awards because they never feel very representative to me of creativity and innovation in the record industry. That’s a very narrow view, which is part of what made this year different. I did watch part of the ceremony, but I also enjoyed it and was happy with a number of the winners. Herbie Hancock’s win was the most satisfying for me. Even though I don’t listen to jazz, I have the ability to still appreciate his sentiment during his acceptance speech that the academy had finally broken the mold and awarded a jazz album the highest honors for the first time in 43 years is very telling.
It’s breaking the mold that has me thinking about the record industry because it is on the verge of a major shift and reorganization. Searching for some insight into the awards, I came across this piece about the awards and the “revolution” that is occurring now in comparison to the “revolution” that was just starting in the music industry 50 years ago. What this piece illustrates expertly is how swiftly the record industry has declined. It is hard to believe that once there was optimism in the industry for technology and technological growth. It’s also hard to believe that album sales only peaked 8 years ago.
Technology seems to have become quite the problem for the record industry, as they find themselves fighting against the internet community and consumers that illegally download music. But, illegal downloaders are not the only consumers that have caused the decline of the record industry; it is also those listeners that legally download music from digital store’s like Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)’s iTunes, or Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)’s new MP3 store. In addition, the technology that was highly regarded in 1958, the LP (or its counterpart, the CD) has also contributed to the decline.
As the cited piece also illustrates, while we say the music industry is declining, that doesn’t mean any demand for music has declined. Craig Balsam, a co-owner of independent label Razor & Tie told writer Bradley Bambarger that consumers want “complete portability” but that “the industry hasn’t figured out how to get that music to the consumers so they’ll pay for it.” Unfortunately, he also points to a subscription-based model as the future of the industry. Technological growth has obviously made that portability a very real situation for listeners today, but if the labels continue to fight the beast (downloading) they helped create (by adding tracks to stores like iTunes) while combating illegal downloading, a future with subscription-models may drive even more consumers away.
The greatest innovations recently have come from outside the industry, with artists taking their music directly to fans in new and exciting methods. No matter how many times it is mentioned, Radiohead’s move to release In Rainbows on the internet first last October generated enough interest to send the eventual CD to number one. That same model may never be duplicated, but the future is with simple to access online retailing, not a subscription model. Consumers don’t want to rent music, they want to “own” it or at least access to it.
In light of the Grammy’s 50th anniversary we should not overlook these facts, and the problems of the record industry. It might seem contradictory for the record industry to celebrate in light of massive decline, but as always the awards are not about the industry, they’re about the artists. If the academy can break the mold by awarding a jazz album the highest award then maybe there’s hope that the record industry can break the mold and effectively deal with the issues at hand. That might be too optimistic, but in the last six months more molds have been broken than the last six years.
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