Change is a-comin’ in the music biz

Ever since Napster, it was clear that the distribution of music was starting to change. Some recent articles show that there is more change brewing. Huge ’80s success George Michael, who had quite the row with his record label, has announced that he’s only going to release music for free online henceforth.

“I’ve been very well remunerated for my talents over the years so I really don’t need the public’s money.”

Neat attitude. He’s going to accept donations from folks downloading his music, and will give the proceeds to charity.

Reuters has a story about indie labels seeing opportunity in the music industry turmoil

“We’ve seen major opportunities for signing acts who have a base and (enabling us) to make money and keep overhead under control,” said [Bob] Frank, [president of Koch Records], noting that Koch generated record sales and profit in 2003.

Though distribution on the Net provides huge opportunities for someone to gain huge worldwide mindshare, it also provides chances for a much wider base of artists to reach some fans. The lower production and promotion cost style of the indies will help them in the dirt cheap distribution world.

And, finally, rock band Korn has a new video, “Y’all Want a Single? Fuck That” which, unsurprisingly, their label didn’t want them to release. More distribution opportunities also means more creative freedom for artists. Musicians like Korn and George Michael (who no one would have ever expected to be mentioned in the same sentence) have earned themselves enough financial freedom to completely buck the current music industry and help see what the new industry might just be like.