Because the World Needs More Digital Labels

Over at soundrevolt.com is an article outlining 10 steps to establishing a digital label. Just like in Spinal Tap, this list should have gone to 11, and that cherished 11th step would have been: "Ask yourself: are you really doing anything different than anyone else?" Everyone I speak to is irritated by the suffocating glut of material released these days. The freedom brought about by the decline of vinyl and the high production costs associated with producing it hasn't lead to better music - just more of it.

What's most interesting about the listicle is what's only implied, down in step #10, in regard to the economics of digital labels. And it explains why so much of the music being released today is, in the words of Edward G. Robinson, "tasteless, odorless crud":

10. Draw up the balance. Let's begin at profits. If you manage to fall into Beatport, then 80% of your profit will flow from there. A good track should easily reach 100 downloads, which will generate the store income on the level of $150-$200, out of which Beatport collects 40% (Juno takes 50%). That means $90-120 goes to your pocket. If you put up 5 numbers a month, then you can expect a profit of $500-600. Obviously you will share the profit among yourself and the authors of the music, which is usually 50-50, which means that there is still $250-300 on the label's bank account, but don't forget there are still unpaid bills on your desk. Pay the copywriting, sound mastering, web hosting fees, not to mention taxes and health insurance (let's hope your dad runs a business).

You read that right, and based on conversations with producers who are taking full advantage of the digital sphere, these numbers are legit. A good track these days will reach about 100 downloads, requiring producers to release a barrage of half-finished or rather defective tracks that never would have seen the light of day when labels were restricted by the burdensome production costs of vinyl. Some of the producers I've talked to seem slightly embarassed by that fact - no one, after all, wants to make an impression based on a product they shoved out the door to make a measly hundred bucks.

Based on these numbers, is it any surprise that fewer and fewer producers seem to be making the jump to "superstar" level these days? Those who have worked in record stores know that there used to be fans that would buy anything with certain producers' names on it. They weren't blind or undiscriminating fans - you just knew that anything they released had a certain threshold of quality else it never would have seen the light of day. But when the producer drops his standards, and the label is run by the same producer, is there really any wonder that so much generic crap is circulating around out there - and fans of this music put a lower and lower value on it?