The Film Industry to become the next Music Industry

Documentary & Independent films are booming these days as the big budget blockbusters decline. The film industry is not looking as good as it used to. Their profits are thinning because of the growing piracy online and so more and more lawsuits are forming against these companies. I feel deja vu big time right now. When the music industry started feeling the pains of its consumer’s ability to find music for free online the lawsuits came fast. With the recent forced takedowns against FanSub sites the film industry has their own version of Napster. One of my favorite movies ever (Citizen Kane is my favorite) is Back To The Future. I feel that if I went back in time it would be to this post hoping that a film industry professional would read this and realize that I’m right. The film industry is on it’s decline. The formats are being forced to change. But who will be the Trent Reznor of the film world? Using Mr. Masnick’s phrase, “Who will be the first to make things remarkable by giving the consumer a “reason to buy”"? I wish I was a filmmaker right now because the knowledge I have in the music industry feels like a winning lottery ticket in the film industry.

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PEARL JAM to join the growing unsigned artist community

After completing their contract with Sony and J Records, Pearl Jam has joined the growing list of empowered unsigned artists just looking to bypass their labels and go more direct to their fans. Like their predecessors it has come down to the ability to control their future, increase their profits and open up a wide variety of inventive bundling options for it’s September 20th release. By using their name, having great songs and hiring the same business professionals that have been working with them in the past they have completely cut out lengthy contracts and undoubtably will have the same level of results. Why are more and more artists doing this? Major labels have lost their way. Before the internet boom, when an artist got signed that meant that the label would pour EVERYTHING they had into you. I can’t blame labels at all for being reluctant in this declining music industry however it’s the lack of ideas and unwillingness to jump all the way in that is killing them.

There’s one valuable point that has been forgotten…people still LOVE music.

Now, I’ve been notorious for saying that I’m not a fan of how major labels have handled their 21st century business models however there is still a place for them if they adjusted a bit. If labels signed “media partnerships” in addition to it’s new 360 deals they would be in more demand and bands like, Pearl Jam would not be lossed. The gap between would widen between the unsigned artist and the majors. Look at Disney. Disney signs 360 deals but they give everything in their 360 rights. As an artist you know that if you get signed by them, you will be given a chance to be involved in all their media projects from creating tv shows for you to being in the next movie. These powerful mediums can still work if done right. In my opinion, if you’re gonna be signed, be signed. Otherwise, DIY is your other choice. There are plenty of unsigned artists that are doing fine financially: Kari Kimmel (you can hear her on countless movie soundtracks, tv shows & commercials), Coffey Anderson (Burn Lounge’s #1 selling artist & plays a ton of churches and colleges for his adoring fans) and Ernie Halter (who has 513,000 twitter followers, tours 9 months out of the year and records out of his bathroom).

My prediction is that with the gap closing between the bigger independents and the majors, majors are going out of business. If majors truly embrace ALL of it’s artists as media partners on top they would increase their sales. Sure, they wouldn’t sign as many artists but at least the desire from the artist community wouldn’t be so negative.

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GOALS

It’s quite interesting to me how easy it is to say you need goals yet so hard to make them for people. We get so wrapped up in our own lives that we forget how important it is to our lives. In my opinion, there are a few things that makes the human species great and putting goals in front of you is one of them. This post will be able to be applied to anything in your life and I know I’m not making any headway with a revolutionary thought. However, saying and doing are two different things and as you’re reading this post you know who you are. I don’t have to tell you.

Irregardless, I want to encourage everybody reading to make at least 1 long term goal and then make a series of short goals. All of which should come with a ladder of steps on how you’re going to get there. The great thing about us as people is that we can do almost anything we put our minds to (as long as we apply ourselves). Jim Carrey is a great example of success. Before he became rich and famous he was a struggling actor just trying to get recognition. After many trying times he put a rather lofty goal in front of him: he wrote himself a 1,000,000 dollar check. Of course, he couldn’t cash it then but he sure did later after putting together a series of steps to get there. That was his goal. Another example would be a little known band at the time called, PLAIN WHITE T’s. Sure everybody knows them as the “Hey There Delilah” band but did you know that they couldn’t fill a 200 seat venue in their hometown? Through a very specific touring goal they rose up the ranks to where they are today. There’s nothing magical going on with these two examples. They simply put goals in front of them and put steps together to make that happen.

If you don’t know where you’re going you’ve applied yourself to a lack of purpose. This is not the answer to life (being a servant and sharing your life with others seems to be a better purpose) but you’ll find that life seems to be just a little bit better if you put goals in front of you.

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