This Needs To Be Addressed

I don't want to single anyone out and this ad on Facebook does not say who the advertiser is, but, I wonder if the kids setting up studio businesses like this really understand what they are doing to their credibility and the perception the public has of the recording services market.

I know pricing is all over the place and we live in a very competitive market, but really! I can understand under cutting the market at $35 and hour for a studio and engineer, but working for $20/hr late at night and $10/hr on weekends? The only message they send with this ad is "we are desperate AND stupid"

I am making the assumption that the kids (and I mean kids) that put this ad up, went to some kind of music business or recording school.

Did they really learn nothing about business in the school they went to?

I hate to see them fail, but they will, if they have any kind of overhead or are not on some kind of government assistance, mark my word.

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Permalink Reply by Matt McClure on October 29, 2010 at 9:29am

Thought I might throw this in as food for thought.....

"Money, talent, experience & amazing songs"

Let me preface this by saying I'm not disagreeing with you, just pointing out a possible flaw in this hypothesis....

What determines a "great record"....those of us doing it everyday, A&R, or 10-15 year olds experiencing their first taste of "purchasing their own music?

Does commercially successful mean a "great" record....cause if that's the case, I can name many "great" records (within the last year) that don't have all 4 of the above, but they certainly did have money involved.

How long can we sustain "commercially successful/great" is my question.

At one time, we had around 15,000 points of sale in the US. An individual had to get in their car, drive to the store, scan through bins, stand in line to purchase the LP/CD, un-wrap it, then put in on/in their player to enjoy....they were force-fed music over the radio which in many cases, drove them to go seek the product.

Now, we have over 500,000,000 individual points of sale....we're not moving product. All an individual has to do is press "commit to buy".....and we can't sell product....they have access to anything and everything they could possibly want to check out, all in the privacy of their home, in their pajamas.

It's a new generation.....music is passive to younger people.....listening in the car, while their working out, etc....What we need (and man I wish I was the guy to come up with the "new idea") is an entirely different model....that's gonna take time....but at some point someone's gonna figure it out, and when they do, I think it's gonna be the roaring 20's all over again!

Someone's gotta make this stuff....and, until they make a computer that can mix records (which they probably will), I feel as if there will always be work there for folks who are doing truly "great" work.

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Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on October 29, 2010 at 9:33am

You mean you haven't bought the EZ-Mixer plug-in? No joke, from the makers of EZ-Drummer.

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Permalink Reply by J.R. McNeely on October 30, 2010 at 12:40am

Awesome! Now I can just lay on the beach and let EZ - Mixer do all my work for me! "Just Set It, and Forget It"

Thanks EZ- Mixer!

Brought to you by "Donco" - makers of other fine products such as EZ- Surgeon and EZ- Lumberjack.

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Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on October 29, 2010 at 9:54am

OK, so "labels" are not spending money trying to get commercial product in the retail pipeline, but guess what, there is still a huge demand for music. I haven't billed a "label" or worked with a producer doing a label project in about 4 years. However, there are people willing to invest in artists and music production, even what we would call non-commercial. Those gigs are out there. How do I know? Because I am working on them. They aren't high profile but they are willing to spend what it takes to do it right. I have friends who are paying studio musicians left and right developing talent because they know what it takes to do things right.

People putting up these kinds of ads are bottom dwellers, scavengers and vultures. Many of them (having no real success to tout) prey on people's desire for fame and success. They get no respect from me. I won't call them clever or innovative.

I've said too much in one short post....

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Permalink Reply by Pete Warren on October 29, 2010 at 10:08am

Agreed. No respect for those who prey upon people's desire for fame and success. I also don't much care for people who charge someone to tell them how to be successful. That seems to be the most popular way to still make money in this business, by lying to people about their chances for success. And yes, when former full time engineers and such are now teaching 100x students every year because they themselves can't any longer sustain a decent life, there's clearly a major problem. And here you see the result.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Warren on October 29, 2010 at 10:06am

Exactly which of the four elements I mentioned above besides money was missing in the project, and you still ended up with a great record? Bad songs = bad record. In the eye of the beholder, I'm sure. We all differ on our opinions on what is good. But there are a few things most of us can agree upon as good or bad. Take away solid talent, be it 15 or 50 years old, and you end up with a bad record. There are some experienced 15 year olds, and some very inexperienced 50 year olds. Experience is needed to make a great record. It can technically be done without money, but that requires investment somewhere. Gear and people willing to work for spec, which really means free.

Good projects ideally SHOULD result in good revenues. If and when that happens again, we'll put out a lot of records that any individual may feel is not so great, but sells, and allows a lot of people to work, and occasionally work on great records. There may be a lot of commercial crap that has been produced over the years. But a lot of amazing artists and records emerged in that process. And NO ONE will deny that when you see an artist like JT with the players he had on the road recently, that experience, talent, money and great songs were the formula that made it work.

But again, very few folks have figured out how to monetize good artistry in our current environment. Figure that out for a particular artist, and now you have more money to hire more people to make more records.

Again, my point is that these guys selling studio time for $10 an hour are just a fly in the room. A little annoying, but basically a non-issue. What I do hate is hearing someone who blew $50,000 on a record with someone who has represented themselves as industry experienced because their daddy bought them an HD rig and a pair of high end mics. No matter how great the gear, minus the talent and experience with it, it's still going to sound like crap. On the other hand, I've heard some amazing recordings made on garage band in people's living rooms. But someone very talented and experienced was involved in it.

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Permalink Reply by Matt McClure on October 29, 2010 at 1:49pm

Totally agree with you from my own personal perspective.

But.....a lot of great stuff goes unseen and a lot of not so great (my personal feelings) makes it. This is nothing new.....and honestly, might be a part of the problem in the bigger picture.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Warren on October 29, 2010 at 2:08pm

Of course! But it's necessary. "Commercial" means that something will create commerce. Revenues enable art to be created. Without a buyer for art, something has to be sold in order to keep feeding the artist. Otherwise the artist gets a job doing something else, and makes less art. Especially if he has three young kids. I'm just speaking in general... of course...

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Permalink Reply by Greg Hopkins on October 29, 2010 at 11:40am

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Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on October 29, 2010 at 2:11pm

yes, they clarified the absurdity. I know a few studios on the row who would beg to differ. But then again, most of those high class rooms would never make that claim. They let their service and work speak for themselves.