As it says in my bio, I am a musician. Living in Sydney, I play in four bands three of which are the kind of bands you regularly see playing in pubs and similar such venues. In years gone by it would’ve been considered normal, I guess, for someone in my position to be dreaming of getting a record contract with a respected record label and to graduate from there to rocking around the world. That’s certainly the conventional narrative. Personally, that’s about the last thing I want to get involved with.

It shouldn’t really be news to anyone to say that the business model of the recording industry is rather outdated and useless. It relied upon a whole bunch of artists desperate enough for exposure that they’d be willing or ignorant enough to saddle themselves with tens of thousands of dollars of debt to a record company in exchange for a small chance that they would be one of the bands that are successful, a relative term at best – even bands that sold many copies of their records could have large amounts owing to the record company. The model also required a distribution and marketing system that was controlled by or at least sympathetic to the record companies. This was not just record shops but radio stations and other media that would provide space for both paid and unpaid promotion of bands and artists.

The growth and mainstreaming of the internet along with the digitalisation of music has done much to undermine this business model on the distribution end, while the increasing power of personal computers and programs such as Apple’s Garageband and Pro Tools has reduced the need for musicians to submit themselves to recording companies for the privilege of making a reasonable quality recording of their songs. While it wouldn’t be true to say that record companies are dead and buried, they are under assault on a number of fronts and, as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.

The reason I write this is that, this morning on twitter, journalist Margaret Simons posted on twitter some questions from her university students. One question asked was “are print journalists biased against social media. e.g. @grogsgamut.” Two interesting replies I saw came from Nick Hodge

“traditional” journalists are worried about how they will earn a living in a world of free. Social Media is latest vector

and Nina Field

be crazy not to feel uncomfortable abt someone offering what they do as professionals for free

While contemplating those answers it occurred to me that there are similar issues being faced by the media and the music industries as a result of changing technology and, more specifically, the internet. In both cases the access to platforms for publishing are similar for both professionals and amateurs, old business models of the large employers who formed the backbone of the industry are under serious threat and may be fatally flawed, and those in charge of those companies often seem hopelessly lost, unable to imagine a way to adapt to the changes, left resorting to protectionist urges and defensive positioning, stances that are only serving to distance them from their customers.

As a musician who doesn’t have the backing of a monolithic record label, I have no choice but to accept that people will share any music I record for free, reducing the amount I can earn from selling copies of those recordings. Also, there are a lot of pretty ordinary bands playing in pubs that are probably willing to play for little to no decent pay thus under cutting the ability of quality bands to demand more reasonable rates for our hard work. Indeed, I’m a part of the “problem” in that I and my bands will play those under paying gigs if it means we’re playing in a good venue to a decent audience.

We’ll even play at gigs like this where no one is thinking about making money but just enjoying themselves and stretching the boundaries of what people consider to be a valid music experience. That particular party had about seven or eight different stages going making it, in one sense, a bigger production than the big day out festival. To extend that further, in multicultural Australia, there are many other examples one can think of where non-professionals play music, sometimes singing and dancing and carrying on like they’re having fun, for no financial reward what so ever. To view musical expression exclusively through the prism of being a paid professional would be to severely limit the nature of cultural expression. Similarly, to view engagement in public affairs as a matter of professionals producing product to be bought by customers in a one way transaction is a limiting and dated view of public life and political engagement.

As a musician, I know I have to have a diverse range of skills and be creative (outside of musical composition) if I want to make a living in the music industry. Many people who I know who play in bands, who want to work in the industry, work as music teachers, in music shops, for staging and event production companies as roadies, instrumental techs, and in other roles requiring technical expertise. In addition to that, even though there are many musicians that work for peanuts, many people still value the kind of quality that you get from a professional musician who has studied their craft

Yes journalism is going through a series of fundamental changes, yes that is a threat to the fundamental business models and structures of years gone by, but the way forward for professional journalism lies in accepting that the world has changed, that that change will not be reversed, and that there will be valuable opportunities and roles for those that can adapt the way they work and operate.