Lord Gonchar

Saw this story in Fortune magazine and decided to dig it up online and link to it. I’ve done a few posts with thoughts about the music industry on my blog – usually when some established millionaire gives away a half-baked release and promotes it as “sticking to the system.” (See posts: Your Music Is Worthless – Your Music Is Still Worthless – NIN The Slip)

So anyway this article take a look at the current state of the industry and I think it’s quite interesting – even if it’s only because I feel like it sort of confirms what I’ve said all along.

By the time the band files onto the stage, masks in place, it’s after 9 p.m. Beyond the heavily pierced kids in the front row, the crowd of 19,000 stretches back, boxed in by starlit cornfields….

Few adults over the age of 30 have ever heard of Hollywood Undead, whose fan base consists largely of teenagers enthralled by the band’s dangerous image. Most of these kids discovered the band on the Internet. When Hollywood Undead posted its first song on MySpace four years ago, it was an overnight sensation, garnering tens of thousands of online friends in a few months. An overnight sensation — but not a profitable one until the band signed with a traditional record label.

And indeed, more artists than ever are putting out albums online — there were 106,000 new releases in 2008, compared with 44,000 five years ago, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Precious few, however, ever break through. Of the 63 new releases that sold more than 250,000 copies last year, 61 were issued by major music companies. Yes, occasionally a singer-songwriter like Ingrid Michaelson, whose self-released hit album, Girls and Boys, has sold 286,000 copies since 2006, makes it big. But as the story of Hollywood Undead suggests, the record labels will continue to play a major role, albeit a new one.

It’s a cool read if such matters interest you.