bon jovi claims itunes killed the music buisness

Up till the advent of the LP, music was not big business, and musicians were people followoing a vocation in the largest proportion of cases. Most were not well off, but the scene thrived never the less.

It went from being an entertainment to big business with the advent of large scale recording - really from the mid-fifties onward. This was not a natural state and since then the whole structure has fragmented, as the more natural situation returns. The reason that the old major companies were so powerful is that recordings were expensive to make and the technologies were not easy to buy into. Digital recording has changed this. Downloading has simply made the grip of the major recording companies even less strong. It is now possible to make recordings of quality musical performances in superb quality recording entirely without such organisations as DG, Philips, Decca, RCA, Sony/CBS, or EMI.

Of course this means that a very promoted artist like Jon Bon Jovi no longer have the resource of as powerful a backer as the major record companies once were.

The greatest value of these major recording labels now resides in their archives, but some of the most delightful modern recordings appear on small independant labels without the huge commercial superstructure [and associated costs] of the old majors.

Change is inevitable, and I think that the current fragmentation is nothing but a good thing. Some will lose in the shake-up, and artists like Bon Jovi are indeed likely to be among these, but the current situation should allow for genuine and new talent to keep coming forward!

ATB from George

Greed, high prices, marginally talented new music, and the internet have severely wounded the music industry. Records and CDs will always remain though on a smaller level.

I'm with George. I think music is better off than ever. The democratization of distribution through the internet has changed things for the better. High quality digital recording is possible with a relatively tiny outlay. But you still need to know what you are doing!

A friend is just finishing mixing her new album. Funds for the record were raised primarily via pre-sales and donations over the internet. She distributes by her own site and through iTunes which offers her a really fair deal.

http://www.billythekidonline.com/

Bon Jovi are relics of a passing age where promotion could trump talent and quality. Of course, this still happens, but the "alternative" scene is healthier than ever. People are waking up.

> What if you do not have a computer or a broadband connection?

What if you don't have a record or cassette player?

I'm with George on this too - 100%. I would suggest there was some great music created that alas none of us will ever hear because there was nobody around to capture it either as a score or record it; still there is plenty of great music from Dowland to Chumbawanga for us all to enjoy. (I'd recommend Chumbawanga superb English Rebel Songs 1381-1984)

I have bought lots of music because of Amazon and I see nothing, but good news on the iTunes front. I was able to download, albeit on 320 Kb/s MP3 some Shirley Collins music that I had sought for years. Artists such as Karine Polwart hardly need the music business; Karine sells her CDs through her web site and usually gives away a song a month for free. Her songs and singing are more than one class above Bon Jovi (wasn't he off X-Factor or Max Factor or something),

I have around 3.000 albums of various musical genres and not a single track by Bon Jovi. I think it says it all that he refers to it as the "music business", whereas true lovers of the greatest of all art forms would simple say music. To me Bon Jovi is at best a third rate musical impostor who belongs on MTV not in any music collection. 

Todd Rundgren, also, mentioned in this thread is not only more sensible, he is vastly superior musician and song writer - in fact I 'd go as far to say he's a wizard, a true star. 

Does anybody buy Bon Jovi records? 

Sorry it is probably just me, but I hate all that AOR power ballad stuff. 

It sounds so dated and really is part of music history I'd prefer to forget. 

Oh help me Mrs Medlicott
I don’t know what to do
I’ve only got three bullets
And there’s four of Motley Crue

From: Half Man Half Biscuit: Upon Westminster Bridge

All the best, Guy

One of the fantastic things about downloading is that even issues that would fail commercially can be made available as a stream, and deleter's axe is much easier to avoid without physical stocks of slow selling releases clogging up storage space.

I actually have not made more than about twenty tracks of download, as mostly I have transferred my CDs to the computer, but an example of a really great find was from the long since deleted Danacord CD album of the complete recordings of the now largely unknown but great Danish Tenor, Aksel Schiøtz.

I only downloaded the contents of the first CD from the set, and yes it is MP3, but given the choice of not listening to his estimable Handel, Buxtehude, Dowland, Bach, and Mozart recordings in a nice transfer that does not sound much more limited than CDs of historical recordings [1936-1941 in this case], or just never having the evidence of his artistry, and merely contemplating the legend then I'll download his MP3 transfers!

I am sure than many others will have their own nuggets to find that would not amount to what is commercially viable in a physical format, and eventually someone will cotton onto downloads at CD standard for such important gems, but in the meantime, I am happy enough. It is a great improvement on relying on the owners of the masters to issue or licence recordings that are not going to do more than cover their costs at best in a physical format, but would sell effectively in small numbers as downloads, and eventually these gems become more widely known again! And even more important, new artists can come forward without a major recording contract.

What the loss of nigh monopoly status of the major record labels will do is prevent a Karajan or McCartney getting as wealthy as they did from recordings in the halcyon days of the majors, while others just as worthy were left in total obscurity. The earnings from recordings will be much more reasonably shared out ...

ATB from George

PS: EDIT: I think Bon Jovi might be right of course. Downloading probably has undermined  the old big-business plan for music, but that was not a natural or healthy situation, and the only beneficiaries of it were people exactly like him, and the shareholders in the companies themselves, so for "music" rather than the "music business," then things certainly do look healthy for the future.

Oh please.... Wikipedia tells me that Jon BonJovi is 49. The prerecorded cassette (yes folks!) started killing off vinyl when JBJ was about ten years old.

The music business is like any other. Give people something they want and they will happily pay for it. I see a mint vinyl copy of Somethin Else just went for $1250 on ebay. Clearly there is lots of money out there for the right product.