| Web rock throws down the gauntlet Normally,
if one of the country's biggest record retailers opens a new flagship store, you would
expect them to mark the occasion by talking up the future of the industry. Not Richard
Branson. In typically perverse fashion, Branson used the grand opening of the new Virgin
Megastore in Glasgow last month to issue a dire warning: if things didn't change, he'd
probably quit record retailing altogether. He may have been standing in the biggest record
store in Scotland, but he made it clear that he was giving serious thought to turning it
into the biggest mobile phone store in Scotland instead.
As so often with Branson, there was more than an element of hype in his words - he was
clearly unable to pass up a plug for his new mobile phone business - but there was also a
glimmer of truth. Branson is genuinely worried that record stores are about to be bypassed
as record companies begin using the new internet technology of MP3 instead of shops as the
mechanism for delivering their music to the public.
For the record companies, MP3 presents a further problem because it offers musicians a
vital new route direct to the public, and a fresh breed of website has emerged to
encourage unknown bands to take exactly that path.
Branson, whose empire includes the V2 Music label, told me: "All the record
companies are meeting behind closed doors, trying to work out the future as they see it -
whether it's the internet cutting out record shops, downloading or whatever - but without
involving the retailers."
If he no longer had the support of the record industry for good, old-fashioned,
bricks-and- mortar retailing, he added, he'd devote his valuable floor space to selling
something else. Dramatic as ever, Branson was drawing attention to one of the areas where
the internet threatens to alter radically the way we behave. Along with book sales, CDs
have transferred effortlessly to the net. For the - still relatively few - people who have
embraced e-commerce, shopping for albums online offers at least three clear advantages.
First, it can be much cheaper: £8.60 for a chart album, compared with up to £13.99 in
stores. Second, you can hear the music and read reviews before buying, so you can make a
more informed choice. Finally, the internet offers a large amount of music absolutely free
on MP3.
More people search for the word MP3 on the internet than anything else (including sex,
according to a survey by searchterms.com). It's not surprising. MP3 is a file format that
lets you download near CD-quality audio very quickly. You then have two choices: you can
play it on your computer using a software MP3 player, or you can play it on a portable
hardware MP3 player.
This revolution is great for consumers, but potentially tragic for record labels and
record shops. The labels are worried because boot- leggers can "rip" an MP3 file
from one of their CDs and post it on the net, where anybody can download it. The stores
are worried because forward-thinking labels regularly offer free downloads as a
promotional tool to persuade record buyers to sample new acts. David Bowie, who has
embraced the net to the extent that he is now an internet service provider, previewed his
entire latest album, Hours, as a download - two weeks before it hit the shops.
Brian McLaughlin, managing director of HMV Europe and also chairman of the record
stores' trade association, Bard, is understandably unhappy. "We realise that music
retailers have no preordained right to sell music exclusively," he says, "but we
do seek recognition of the role retailers have played - and will continue to play - in
supporting the industry."
It's diplomatic language, but the sentiments aren't that far away from Branson's: don't
mess with the retailers, or you'll find your records stacked in a small, dark basement,
behind the videos, games and T-shirts.
A bigger threat to the industry, however, comes from the latest twist of the knife:
websites such as Peoplesound.com, Musicunsigned.com and Vitaminic.com that invite unsigned
musicians to put their music onto the web. Bands on the Peoplesound site typically offer
free downloads to whet the public's appetite; if you want more, you can order a CD, which
is "burned" specifically for you. Peoplesound and the artist split the profits
50/50 - a great deal for the artist.
When you arrive at the Peoplesound site, there are several ways of navigating. You can
enter your favourite artists' names, then hear music in a similar vein, or choose the mood
of the music you want to hear. Martin Turner, chief operating officer of Peoplesound,
believes the growing sales of compilation albums demonstrate that record buyers are
increasingly looking for a style of music rather than a particular band. As you listen,
the site reacts to your tastes and revises its recommendations.
The clubbing industry is also wising up to the potential of distribution, and the
Ministry of Sound ( www.ministryofsound.com)
has been offering free downloads in a bid to sell more of its compilation CDs. "For
consumers, it's a chance to hear great music free," Turner says. "For the
artist, it's a chance to be heard. And we don't take any ownership of their music."
Peoplesound and its ilk also offer a service to record companies on the lookout for
emerging talent. The band Smokers Blend 3000 were recently signed to the indie label One
Step Records after being "discovered" on Musicunsigned. Such sites tend to be
staffed by former record company A&R staff (talent scouts). Zac Leeks, of Peoplesound,
used to work at Mercury (with bands including Placebo and Idlewild). One act he has signed
to Peoplesound are Stumble: four 19-year-olds from Derby whose music is not unlike Sham 69
in its prime.
Here's a clear indication of which way the wind is blowing: Stumble's latest single -
How Many Times Do I Have to Kill You Before You Die? - has been reviewed in NME, Melody
Maker and Kerrang!, and played on Radio 1 and XFM, yet you can only order it online from
Peoplesound. "We're really happy," says Stumble's singer, Steven Battelle.
"We haven't got a record deal, but we're getting the same attention as a newly signed
band."
Stumble are savvy. They've combined the new technology with the old methods. As well as
putting up their music on Peoplesound, they hired a radio plugger and a PR to help promote
the single. So, do bands like Stumble no longer need record companies? Again, the answer
is no and yes. In the short term, they can do very nicely without one; in the long term,
getting signed is still the objective. As Battelle puts it: "We're not actively
looking for a deal, and we haven't sent any tapes to record companies. We're waiting for
people to come to us."
In other words, sites like Peoplesound aren't going to put record companies out of
business, but they may have shifted the balance of power slightly away from the Sonys and
Universals and towards the emerging artist.
Even though Stumble are at the forefront of this new music industry model, Battelle
says: "The internet isn't going to knock record companies out of the picture. They'll
embrace it. Record stores will have computers in their stores where you can download
tracks."
Battelle is either considerably more clued up on the rock industry than the average 19-
year-old wannabe, or he's remarkably prescient. Universal Music, one of the biggest record
companies in the world (and market leader in the UK), has just set up a website called
Jimmy and Doug's Farm Club ( www.farmclub.com).
The name takes some explaining - Jimmy Iovine and Doug Morris are two of Universal's
senior US executives; a farm club is a baseball training camp - but the site is simply
Universal's version of the Peoplesound idea. Essentially, it's a new way of handling the
A&R function, and other record companies will have to follow suit quickly before the
Peoplesounds, Music-unsigneds and Vitaminics take the job away from them completely.
But if artists can now distribute their own music and even "tour" via the
web, does this spell the end of the record company? "Twelve months ago," says
John Kennedy, the head of Universal in the UK, "that was exactly how the thinking
went. Now we think that the internet will certainly become a bigger channel of
distribution, but not the only one. The problem comes when the online bands try to attract
attention to themselves. That's where record companies come in. We're fundamentally
marketing companies, and we're good at it."
Kennedy's point is underlined by the activities of the Artist formerly known as Prince.
He left his record label and started distributing his music via the net. His profile
dropped and a man who was a megastar became a side issue.
And what was it that Battelle said about computers in stores? HMV launched hmv.co.uk in
October, and - what do you know? - as well as selling CDs, it offers those pesky free
downloads that retailers have been getting so het up about. Over in America, a new chain
of stores called eGroove is about to launch. As well as selling real CDs, the stores will
feature about 30 "music stations" (computers) where customers can browse and
select back-catalogue CDs. These will then be transmitted to the store via satellite from
eGroove's HQ, and the CD will be burned instore within a few minutes. For music fans, it's
a godsend: you walk out carrying the most obscure albums you could possibly want. One of
the men behind eGroove is Ian Duffell, who used to work for Richard Branson, setting up
Virgin Megastores in America. It rather looks as though Branson shouldn't have let him go.
Now click here
soundcircus.com
popwire.com
unsigned-music.com
uao.org
rockbandlounge.com
Hear the sounds of unsigned bands
|
With an MP3 player, you need never buy a CD again. But,
asks MARK EDWARDS, who will benefit from this sea change in the music industry -
the public, the bands or the business moguls?