I think one of the things that is special about Taylor Swift is that she is genuinely nice -- it is definitely her marketed image, but the image is born out in the reality of her attitude toward...
I think one of the things that is special about Taylor Swift is that she is genuinely nice -- it is definitely her marketed image, but the image is born out in the reality of her attitude toward fans and the people who work on her tour. I'm happy for her success and happy for her to be a role model for my daughter.
One thing I wonder about - what does it take to start a record label? she has so much money and influence, I think it would be amazing if she started a label that was designed to promote artists rather than make money. Imagine all those old white men losing market share to a co-op music label headlined by T. Swift.
It doesn't take a huge amount of money to start a label, though one might argue that it requires a lot of inertia. Running a successful independent record label would be where costs will increase...
Exemplary
It doesn't take a huge amount of money to start a label, though one might argue that it requires a lot of inertia. Running a successful independent record label would be where costs will increase dramatically and I would imagine dramatically increases the size of the label.
Having one's own label has been fairly common in the public eye for a long time, especially in the rap and hip hop scene. To throw out some names people are familiar with - Eminem got his own label, called Shady Records, in 1999 and signed D12 and Obie Trice. While 50 Cent may have been discovered by Eminem, he was signed both to Shady Records and Dr Dre's Aftermath Entertainment as a joint venture. But neither of those labels were actually independent, they were owned by Interscope (now owned by Universal Media Group) and the costs of creating a record label weren't what they'd be for artists actually starting from scratch.
Universal, Sony, and Warner Music Groups are the only three major record labels left and account for over 60% of the world market. Smaller record labels, and artists without a label, account for the rest. However independent record labels aren't always small and they aren't always kind to their artists.
I think if anyone were to start a competent, competitive major label it would be a group of celebrity singers and Taylor Swift would be a smart choice to be among them. Giving other artists independence through their own labels, and then helping to get them published, is sort of how the industry is built (much like game devs asking publishers to help with marketing and distribution), but major labels have a history of poorly treating even their biggest names and Swift is just the latest in a long list of pop icons including George Michael and Michael Jackson. One of the alternatives to major labels that the industry has tried is direct publishing -- Apple Music, Amazon, BandCamp, and so on. But have those really freed the artist? I feel like those are the musical analogs to Valve's Steam Store for video games and there are pros and cons.
I would love to see a co-op music label backed by good money and positive people, but I don't know how equitably that could work when it involves someone as famous and wealthy and disproportionately consumptive as Swift working in the vicinity of less famous and less wealthy artists. There is only so much studio space to go around, only so many people in the marketing team that really know their material and audiences, and so on.
I think the solution might be for Swift to take some of her wealth and fund a music co-op, something she can tie her name/brand to, but leave it completely in the hands of the first artists and groups that she signs. She'd also be able to direct some of the managerial and administrative talent around her to the new or existing co-op, because this is already a thing that some groups are doing, and having that kind of industry talent helping out smaller artists would be huge for the industry.
-super off topic- I'm not super familiar about the intricacies of record labels/co-ops but maybe you might have some thoughts about 88rising, which is kinda a record label but not really. I listen...
-super off topic- I'm not super familiar about the intricacies of record labels/co-ops but maybe you might have some thoughts about 88rising, which is kinda a record label but not really. I listen to a lot of their music and that's what I think of when I think of something like this.
I'm not sure, but I think 88rising is in the "indie record label" category, which of course doesn't mean it's small. With offices in NYC and LA (or just LA now?) and subsidiaries overseas, it's...
I'm not sure, but I think 88rising is in the "indie record label" category, which of course doesn't mean it's small. With offices in NYC and LA (or just LA now?) and subsidiaries overseas, it's definitely cut out its own slice of the market. What makes 88rising interesting is that it's running a sort of cultural identity aspect to its marketing, but to me as a casual observer/listener (I was hyped when they got the contract for the Shang-Chi film), it seems like they're protecting the rights of their Asian and Asian-American artists. So that's really cool.
I don't know what kind of revenue-sharing or space-sharing is available to the artists and whether 88rising qualifies as a co-operative figuratively or legally, but it's a very cool initiative and reminds me of some of the old jazz record labels that (may or may not have) preserved and uplifted that whole genre and the people who comprised it.
fair enough! Yeah I don't know too much of it tbh, I know I love their music and they definitely help me feel seen as an Asian American, thank you for your thoughts!
fair enough! Yeah I don't know too much of it tbh, I know I love their music and they definitely help me feel seen as an Asian American, thank you for your thoughts!
I will say, her PR team did a great job of crushing her previous relationship. I’m sure she’s a complicated person like most are, but sheesh, what a weird human being to be in a relationship with.
she is genuinely nice
I will say, her PR team did a great job of crushing her previous relationship. I’m sure she’s a complicated person like most are, but sheesh, what a weird human being to be in a relationship with.
I try not to pay too much attention to this sort of thing because I can barely make relationships work when no one but immediate family is weighing in. I can't imagine living under the microscope...
I try not to pay too much attention to this sort of thing because I can barely make relationships work when no one but immediate family is weighing in. I can't imagine living under the microscope of the public eye and the overwhelming toxicity of social media all while being hounded a fleet of photographers and writers whose livelihood turns on portraying the worst possible image of a person.
I read the link in your post, and it does seem like he is genuinely problematic and that there was something between them, but who knows what was really there or that it means. I feel like we all have people in our lives whose views we don't agree with. I certainly would not like to be asked to account for the views of all the people I have dated.
I will reserve judgement until I have walked a mile in her shoes. Then I will sell them on eBay and use the money to take a year off.
I feel like, in the day and age of streaming and the internet, are record labels very important anymore? I don't have any industry knowledge but I'm curious, what do they even do nowadays?
I feel like, in the day and age of streaming and the internet, are record labels very important anymore? I don't have any industry knowledge but I'm curious, what do they even do nowadays?
They provide studio space, audio engineers, producers, backup musicians/singers, and various other services to artists, like music video production, marketing, and promoting/negotiating with...
They provide studio space, audio engineers, producers, backup musicians/singers, and various other services to artists, like music video production, marketing, and promoting/negotiating with broadcast and distribution platforms. And they also used to be pretty much the only way you could get physical media made and distributed en masse. However the way they go about all that is often predatory as hell, IMO. See: Recoupment
Thankfully labels are getting less powerful, and less needed these days thanks to affordable home studio equipment and software, democratization of knowledge about how to record/produce music, the decline of physical media, radio becoming increasingly irrelevant, and social media/bandcamp/youtube/etc making promotion, distribution, and sales a lot easier for independent artists.
Record labels can still be a shortcut to success for new artists that sign with one though, since they still have plenty of institutional knowledge, infrastructure, and talent working for them to assist those artists. And they still have plenty of influence over the market due to their longstanding business relationships with other companies in the industry, and adjacent ones. However, that potentially increased chance at success also comes with the risk of that artist getting royally fucked by their record label too, like Taylor Swift almost had happen to her.
I think one of the things that is special about Taylor Swift is that she is genuinely nice -- it is definitely her marketed image, but the image is born out in the reality of her attitude toward fans and the people who work on her tour. I'm happy for her success and happy for her to be a role model for my daughter.
One thing I wonder about - what does it take to start a record label? she has so much money and influence, I think it would be amazing if she started a label that was designed to promote artists rather than make money. Imagine all those old white men losing market share to a co-op music label headlined by T. Swift.
It doesn't take a huge amount of money to start a label, though one might argue that it requires a lot of inertia. Running a successful independent record label would be where costs will increase dramatically and I would imagine dramatically increases the size of the label.
Having one's own label has been fairly common in the public eye for a long time, especially in the rap and hip hop scene. To throw out some names people are familiar with - Eminem got his own label, called Shady Records, in 1999 and signed D12 and Obie Trice. While 50 Cent may have been discovered by Eminem, he was signed both to Shady Records and Dr Dre's Aftermath Entertainment as a joint venture. But neither of those labels were actually independent, they were owned by Interscope (now owned by Universal Media Group) and the costs of creating a record label weren't what they'd be for artists actually starting from scratch.
Universal, Sony, and Warner Music Groups are the only three major record labels left and account for over 60% of the world market. Smaller record labels, and artists without a label, account for the rest. However independent record labels aren't always small and they aren't always kind to their artists.
I think if anyone were to start a competent, competitive major label it would be a group of celebrity singers and Taylor Swift would be a smart choice to be among them. Giving other artists independence through their own labels, and then helping to get them published, is sort of how the industry is built (much like game devs asking publishers to help with marketing and distribution), but major labels have a history of poorly treating even their biggest names and Swift is just the latest in a long list of pop icons including George Michael and Michael Jackson. One of the alternatives to major labels that the industry has tried is direct publishing -- Apple Music, Amazon, BandCamp, and so on. But have those really freed the artist? I feel like those are the musical analogs to Valve's Steam Store for video games and there are pros and cons.
I would love to see a co-op music label backed by good money and positive people, but I don't know how equitably that could work when it involves someone as famous and wealthy and disproportionately consumptive as Swift working in the vicinity of less famous and less wealthy artists. There is only so much studio space to go around, only so many people in the marketing team that really know their material and audiences, and so on.
I think the solution might be for Swift to take some of her wealth and fund a music co-op, something she can tie her name/brand to, but leave it completely in the hands of the first artists and groups that she signs. She'd also be able to direct some of the managerial and administrative talent around her to the new or existing co-op, because this is already a thing that some groups are doing, and having that kind of industry talent helping out smaller artists would be huge for the industry.
-super off topic- I'm not super familiar about the intricacies of record labels/co-ops but maybe you might have some thoughts about 88rising, which is kinda a record label but not really. I listen to a lot of their music and that's what I think of when I think of something like this.
I'm not sure, but I think 88rising is in the "indie record label" category, which of course doesn't mean it's small. With offices in NYC and LA (or just LA now?) and subsidiaries overseas, it's definitely cut out its own slice of the market. What makes 88rising interesting is that it's running a sort of cultural identity aspect to its marketing, but to me as a casual observer/listener (I was hyped when they got the contract for the Shang-Chi film), it seems like they're protecting the rights of their Asian and Asian-American artists. So that's really cool.
I don't know what kind of revenue-sharing or space-sharing is available to the artists and whether 88rising qualifies as a co-operative figuratively or legally, but it's a very cool initiative and reminds me of some of the old jazz record labels that (may or may not have) preserved and uplifted that whole genre and the people who comprised it.
fair enough! Yeah I don't know too much of it tbh, I know I love their music and they definitely help me feel seen as an Asian American, thank you for your thoughts!
I will say, her PR team did a great job of crushing her previous relationship. I’m sure she’s a complicated person like most are, but sheesh, what a weird human being to be in a relationship with.
I try not to pay too much attention to this sort of thing because I can barely make relationships work when no one but immediate family is weighing in. I can't imagine living under the microscope of the public eye and the overwhelming toxicity of social media all while being hounded a fleet of photographers and writers whose livelihood turns on portraying the worst possible image of a person.
I read the link in your post, and it does seem like he is genuinely problematic and that there was something between them, but who knows what was really there or that it means. I feel like we all have people in our lives whose views we don't agree with. I certainly would not like to be asked to account for the views of all the people I have dated.
I will reserve judgement until I have walked a mile in her shoes. Then I will sell them on eBay and use the money to take a year off.
I feel like, in the day and age of streaming and the internet, are record labels very important anymore? I don't have any industry knowledge but I'm curious, what do they even do nowadays?
They provide studio space, audio engineers, producers, backup musicians/singers, and various other services to artists, like music video production, marketing, and promoting/negotiating with broadcast and distribution platforms. And they also used to be pretty much the only way you could get physical media made and distributed en masse. However the way they go about all that is often predatory as hell, IMO. See: Recoupment
Thankfully labels are getting less powerful, and less needed these days thanks to affordable home studio equipment and software, democratization of knowledge about how to record/produce music, the decline of physical media, radio becoming increasingly irrelevant, and social media/bandcamp/youtube/etc making promotion, distribution, and sales a lot easier for independent artists.
Record labels can still be a shortcut to success for new artists that sign with one though, since they still have plenty of institutional knowledge, infrastructure, and talent working for them to assist those artists. And they still have plenty of influence over the market due to their longstanding business relationships with other companies in the industry, and adjacent ones. However, that potentially increased chance at success also comes with the risk of that artist getting royally fucked by their record label too, like Taylor Swift almost had happen to her.