Before he signs a new band to his independent music label, Franz Schuller usually gives aspiring musicians bad news: They’re probably not going to be famous. This bitter pill is briskly followed by another: “Whatever they think they knew about the music industry from what they’ve heard, or read, or seen on television, that really doesn’t exist any more,” says Mr. Schuller. “It’s really, really hard for artists out there now. It’s an insanely huge challenge to actually make a decent living playing music these days. That’s the reality.”
That’s a perceptive quote from today’s Globe and Mail which delves into the problems Canadian indie musicians face while attempting to build careers and make any money in today’s Internet age.
One quickly sees the parallel problems faced by Canadian Christian indie writers (that is, writers not contracted to big American or multinational publishers) in the October 15th article by Karen Pinchin, titled “Bands see Web as friend and foe in quest to make it big.”
A group of international music industry types recently gathered in Victoria, B.C. for the fourth annual Transmission conference for music and technology leaders to debate the current challenges facing musicians. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Mr. Schuller, singer and guitarist for the Montreal-based punk bandGrimSkunk and founder of indie label Indica Records, was one of Transmission’s attendees. He says technology has had innumerable positive effects on the music industry, ranging from band websites, MySpace pages and Facebook accounts that aid promotion and publicity, to digitized songs that can be easily distributed across international borders.
But he also insists that the music industry needs a fundamental rethink, and suggests the allure of social technologies may eventually prove to be a Trojan horse for aspiring bands.
“For all the massive opportunity that the Internet and mobile phones and devices give us by reaching millions and millions of people, there’s also a gazillion bands. It’s really hard to get noticed or to get anyone’s attention,” says Mr. Schuller. “It’s allowed people with absolutely no business competing in the same space to complicate the careers of people who do have a lot of talent. There’s way, way too much stuff out there.”
Read the rest of the article here. As a writer, what do you think about Schuller’s comments? Are there too many mediocre or poor writers self-publishing books, or posting blogs, or jostling for the attention of agents and editors, to the point that more talented writers can’t get attention? Is the Web making it impossible for most writers to earn a living at it, unless they’re the lucky few who win the publishing lottery? Is there any way that Canadian indie musicians and writers facing parallel issues could work together on finding solutions?
– Wendy Nelles
