This past week at my place of work, we heard that two staples of the metal press - Metal Edge and Metal Maniacs – are shuttering their doors. While many magazines continue to post lower and lower subscription numbers (with the exception of a few) while raising advertising rates (you know those things cost around $2,500-$3,500 for a full page advertisement?), I ask myself: is it worth it? From a record label standpoint, the logical connection between a kid seeing an ad in a magazine and them going out immediately to buy a record is basically non-existent. (Correct me if I am wrong, people). Accordingly, we have curbed many of our budgets to reflect that.

Also for the sake of discussion: does press/good reviews/bad reviews even matter? Most music critics slam some of the most popular music within the punk/metal/hardcore/emo scene, and yet kids continue to buy that stuff in droves. If memory serves me, I saw a study that showed a large majority of people do not even pay attention to music reviews.

So, where do you all stand with it? I know everyone’s opinion will differ; but with everyone having a voice on their own music blog or review site, does press even matter?

This week I had lunch with another friend who works at a pretty large independent label and we both came to a very solid conclusion as to what the RIAA or some organizing body of the music industry should do. Considering the major issues that record labels are having and also with the state of our current economy, this governing body needs to market music (more so to the general casual music consumer) as the best “bang for your buck.”

Purchasing a CD from a record store for between $12-$17 dollars is an incredible value for entertainment dollar. If you were to go to a movie (not even bringing a person with you) you would be looking at least a $10 investment for two hours of your time, then it is gone. It is not a reusable resource unlike CDs (and DVDs for that matter as well). You can not only enjoy the booklet and artwork that accompanies it but usually some level of interaction is put in as “bonus material” whether that is a DVD or enhanced footage. Then you can even make that music transportable by putting it on your computer or MP3 player.

While this may sound like a lame solution for an ailing industry, look at what huge corporations like McDonalds do when they are trying to rebrand their restaurant as being more “healthy.” All it takes is a little thought and while this may not be the only piece of the puzzle, it gets the ball rolling.

MySpace. Gotta love it, gotta hate it. 
 
MySpace has opened up a whole new world for music. A social networking site turned music giant, MySpace has become essential to the comedians, musicians and actors always found on the front page of the site. In other words, MySpace gets paid by advertisers to get their products on to myspace. 
 
This subject is a troubling one. MySpace has a system which you now must use in order to get noticed. These days bands can’t get signed unless they have more than 20,000 friends on MySpace. You need to have more than 200 plays a day! This is lunacy! This is madness! THIS IS SPARTA! 
 
No, seriously… What happened to the days of hearing a band you liked, not knowing their stats, and supporting them? MySpace is like a sick, fake-name, faceless popularity contest. You are told a band is great because there view counts and their comments are like, “OMFG, u guys RAWK!” A band is the new rage because their members are ten years old, can shred faster than the speed of light and have over 30,000 other ten-year-olds signed up as their friends. 
 
Through all of this, I’d like to ask one question: How do we get paid for our 20,000 friends and our 100,000 listens? I don’t really know, but MySpace at some point is going to have to pay up. And we’re going to have to make them. 
 
I know they have a disclaimer somewhere on their site that allows them the right to place your music for free. These guys are a corporate conglomerate and they want to use your music for free? It’s the chicken or egg game. Yes, every band needs MySpace, but at what cost? Let’s get down to the brass tacks and get in MySpace’s ASS! Do you want to know why! THIS IS AMERICA! Do some research and tell me what you find! I’ll do my own. Let’s get paid for the intellectual property we create from nothing. Songs, poems, art, etc.

Just got finished watching a great documentary called Heavy Metal In Baghdad which focuses in on a band from Iraq called Arassicauda (which translates to “black scorpion”); the movie follows their trials and tribulations – how difficult it is to exist as a band, let alone as a human, in the conditions common Iraqi people endure. It puts into perspective how easy it can be for those of us involved in the music industry and playing in bands: that at the end of the day, it’s the music that keeps us involved. Even with the most harrowing times in our own personal lives, we still continue to do (most of the time) stupid things when it comes to our dedication to the music.

Now most can develop the idea and easily say that due to the instant access age of the online world that it is very easy to be in a band these days – so many barriers are knocked down due to previous generations’ hard work and sweat equity. The notion that being in a band is somehow still “edgy” is really a thing of the past, as probably within a 5 mile radius of you are 10-15 kids/adults playing in bands; especially with the increasing popularity of video games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Putting that aside, being in a band is easy these days. You put up a MySpace page, record a few demos and wait for the kids to come in and throw their allowance at your feet through your Big Cartel merch store.

Well, reality check kiddies. Being in a band sucks just as much as it did five years ago. The flipside of bands becoming instantly popular is how they capture the attention of people for prolonged periods of time (beyond one record or demo for that matter). Not to mention the sheer number of bands chokes fans’ ability to weed through and find quality bands. There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors these days.

So keep this thought in mind before you start a band, and be completely honest with yourself: are you into it for the music? The purest of intentions can obviously be corrupted very quickly but at the root of all creativity is the desire to keep at it through adversity. You can see this in the number of artists still toiling and crafting music long after they fall out of the proverbial spotlight. I think most of us would rather burn out gracefully than being gone in a flash. Keep it simple and play for yourself