MADE

If I were a record label exec, I’d be worried by the graph below.

It’s based on research conducted by the Times Online Labs. It shows the state of live and recorded music in the UK from 2004-2008. The most striking thing about it is the drastic decline in recorded revenue to record labels; and the equally dramatic uptick in live revenue to artists.

I imagine that the red and light blue lines dovetailed at some point this year; and live revenue to artists will probably surpass recorded revenue to record labels in the very near future. PRS revenue is royalties to artists when their music is played in public.

What does this all mean? It means that the live music business will become the major revenue generator in the music industry and musicians better be ready to do lots of live events. It means embrace P2P file sharing because if you aren’t going to see much revenue from recorded music anyway, who cares? It’s free marketing.

Most importantly, it means that every single band with any hopes of achieving their dreams is going to have to realize that pure, unadulterated entrepreneurship is the future of succes in music. It doesn’t matter what you think or feel about it. It’s going to be the new reality for everyone. You’d better get a website, you’d better learn social media, you’d better learn online analytics, you’d better learn the touring business, and most importantly, your music needs to be good.