Thom Yorke says record industry will be gone in months

musicismylife78

in a new interview thom yorke says the music industry will completely collapse in a matter of months.

Whats everyones take on this?

I wouldnt take anything thom says for granted. he and the radiohead guys are true revolutionaries. they see 20 years down the line, they always have. way ahead of their time.

Should we all toast tonight to the death of the industry? What will that mean? If in a matter of months everything collapses and the industry is dead?

As I have long argued, and this goes for the band whose website and forum we post on here, it is absolutely insane, for any band to worry about selling physical copies of records anymore. Its a waste of energy and time and money. The fact is, most people steal music, or they buy it legally off itunes. they dont go to the record store. We nay all wish for that time, long ago, I do in some ways, but its gone. it doesnt exist.

turner78

I completely agree with you. The way I see it buying any physical copy of a lp is a niche market now, which only helps the Live Nation/ Ticketmaster monopoly.

red mos

Here is my take: I think the industry will still be around but few and far between. I say this because indie labels or smaller labels may be around, but bands can now put their music out themselves via myspace and websites.

It's kind of hard to tell when it will happen, but with MTV'S/ VH1 focused more on reality tv programming so music has become secondary, and it's usually in the after hours of 10pm to 6am when they show something music related..
I think labels may still be around because for bands to make a living touring, they have to have someone funding their tour expenses but rather the deal is worth it remains to be seen.

Napster opened the floodgate for free music / or purchasing digital downloads like on Itunes. Digital technology has taken over.

Bands have already started to do things like sell shows live from tours for 10 bucks or 15 for physucal cds.
Some bands do meet and greet packages for a big sum of money or sign stuff at shows.
It's going to be really weird watching where this all goes.

dpmay

if physical media ever really dies i will miss it. i just spent like four hours backing up a shit-ton of digital music files, and it's cool how much new shit i have ...

... but looking at a computer is absolutely nothing like flipping through my vinyl looking for something to spin, or, shit, even looking at all my cds and playing one.

with bands i truly love, or new groups i wanna really get into, i still want something on my shelf.

Pepe Silvia

radiohead doesn't have a record label and they still release physical products. i have no clue how much it costs to press vinyl but any band can make their own cds pretty cheap. really the money comes in with distribution and paying for the studio and editing/mastering

musicismylife78

dpmay wrote:

if physical media ever really dies i will miss it. i just spent like four hours backing up a shit-ton of digital music files, and it's cool how much new shit i have ...

... but looking at a computer is absolutely nothing like flipping through my vinyl looking for something to spin, or, shit, even looking at all my cds and playing one.

with bands i truly love, or new groups i wanna really get into, i still want something on my shelf.

i know what you mean, but its sort of a seperate issue. somewhat. if physical copies of albums were cheap and the record industry didnt cheat and exploit both the customer and the artist, this wouldnt even be that much of an issue really. Physical media changed. it changed because of the internet obviously and the rise of the reliance of modern society on technology, but a huge part is the sort of middle finger the average music fan gave to the record industry. they felt they were being abused and taken advantage of and staged an unbelievably successful revolt.

and i think you are probably right, just as their will always be people who want a physical copy of a newspaper or magazine, even as we seem to be heading to a time when that is not the norm, you will have people who buy vinyl especially. but ultimately it is a niche. a successful one, but a niche noentheless.

musicismylife78

i guess what i am saying is, there are few people who would disagree with Thom on his statements. anyone who has a pulse can tell you about the dramatic decline of the industry. But the thing that interests me, and i think why the thom interview got some ink, was because of his insistence that the industry would be dead in a few months. thats staggering to think about, even for me, who is well versed in the financial and pr woes that have plagued the industry for a decade.

dpmay

yeah, the death of physical music is a different issue from the death of the record label. i guess i really don't give a shit about lablels as long as i can still get vinyl (and cds, sure) from my favorites.

and ohbytheway, i'm also one of those weirdos who still prefers the newspaper in print. haha.

in any case, i do not think record labels will be completely gone so soon. how will people get their american idol CDs, and so forth?

catefrances

hes a funny bugger that thom yorke.

Thoughts_Arrive

catefrances wrote:

hes a funny bugger that thom yorke.

Is he from New Yorke?

catefrances

musicismylife78 wrote:

in a new interview thom yorke says the music industry will completely collapse in a matter of months.

Whats everyones take on this?

I wouldnt take anything thom says for granted. he and the radiohead guys are true revolutionaries. they see 20 years down the line, they always have. way ahead of their time.

Should we all toast tonight to the death of the industry? What will that mean? If in a matter of months everything collapses and the industry is dead?

As I have long argued, and this goes for the band whose website and forum we post on here, it is absolutely insane, for any band to worry about selling physical copies of records anymore. Its a waste of energy and time and money. The fact is, most people steal music, or they buy it legally off itunes. they dont go to the record store. We nay all wish for that time, long ago, I do in some ways, but its gone. it doesnt exist.

it does exist. i know this cause it is the only way i buy music.

jervin007

As long as my Indie store exists I will support it. I hardly ever download music. Something about having a wall of cd's that people can look at instead of surfing my music library on my computer appeals to me.

I do put them all on my computer however, because it is definitely convenient.

Lifted

catefrances wrote:

musicismylife78 wrote:

in a new interview thom yorke says the music industry will completely collapse in a matter of months.

Whats everyones take on this?

I wouldnt take anything thom says for granted. he and the radiohead guys are true revolutionaries. they see 20 years down the line, they always have. way ahead of their time.

Should we all toast tonight to the death of the industry? What will that mean? If in a matter of months everything collapses and the industry is dead?

As I have long argued, and this goes for the band whose website and forum we post on here, it is absolutely insane, for any band to worry about selling physical copies of records anymore. Its a waste of energy and time and money. The fact is, most people steal music, or they buy it legally off itunes. they dont go to the record store. We nay all wish for that time, long ago, I do in some ways, but its gone. it doesnt exist.

it does exist. i know this cause it is the only way i buy music.

haha. i'm with you on that one. not to mention, i would imagine the majority of the older demographic are still buying physical copies of their music. my parents wouldn't even know how to go about illegally downloading music. while there is certainly some truth to what thom has said, i think some in this thread are taking it way too seriously. the important fact here is that cd's and records aren't going to disappear in a few months, they'll be around for a while. so while we can sit here and discuss the fall of the record industry, it will really have no effect on our lives. if anything, prices are just going to drop for those of us who still buy physical albums.

keeponrockin

jervin007 wrote:

As long as my Indie store exists I will support it. I hardly ever download music. Something about having a wall of cd's that people can look at instead of surfing my music library on my computer appeals to me.

I do put them all on my computer however, because it is definitely convenient.

Yeah, I buy physical, but listen to MOST of it on my iPod.

musicismylife78

ultimately this is the same discussion i have on here every so often, the same players spouting the same stuff. if you want to believe it still exists, cate, go ahead, but its a time that will never come back. you are never going to NOT convince people to download, and its not just a few radical people doing it, its millions, billions of people doing it. so theres that.

additionally, you are high if you think the scene at the local record store is anything like it was say 20 years ago. or even 10 years ago. The idea of the record store being a place to find out about new bands and to congregate with fellow music obsessives, that stopped being the case years ago.

Ultimately, there are always people who are going to buy physical copies. but as I said it will be niche. buying physcal copies of cds is niche right now.

justam

Well, if it's TRUE, and only a few months away, we'll all be here to see it and talk it about won't we? :geek:

I'm curious about how things are going to be in the future. What will young bands do? How will they get an audience? WHERE is this all heading?

musicismylife78

keeponrockin wrote:

jervin007 wrote:

As long as my Indie store exists I will support it. I hardly ever download music. Something about having a wall of cd's that people can look at instead of surfing my music library on my computer appeals to me.

I do put them all on my computer however, because it is definitely convenient.

Yeah, I buy physical, but listen to MOST of it on my iPod.

most people of our generation, dont even listen to cd's. most download illegally or buy legally on itunes. either way, the primary way music is listened to and store is either on computer or on ipod.

Wolf At Bay

First, the music industry is run by huge corporations with many many other revenue streams other than music, so the big-business-music-industry we all know and despise will not be collapsing any time soon, because they have tons of money to keep beating the dead horse with.
Second: sure, as someone said, its so easy for bands to self release these days - but a lot of indie labels have a following and a sort of "street cred" that will keep them going. These are the guys benefiting from the rise in sales of vinyl. Not to mention that even with all the tech and resources available to record and self release a record, its still a bitch, so bands are still going to sign deals just because it frees up there time to do shit like, you know, write and perform music.

keeponrockin

musicismylife78 wrote:

keeponrockin wrote:

jervin007 wrote:

As long as my Indie store exists I will support it. I hardly ever download music. Something about having a wall of cd's that people can look at instead of surfing my music library on my computer appeals to me.

I do put them all on my computer however, because it is definitely convenient.

Yeah, I buy physical, but listen to MOST of it on my iPod.

most people of our generation, dont even listen to cd's. most download illegally or buy legally on itunes. either way, the primary way music is listened to and store is either on computer or on ipod.

Yeah, most of mine is done on the iPod stereo (I'm 19), however, I have physical copies of all the music on there. I like having a CD collection... Looking through someones iTunes is not nearly as exciting as looking through a real CD collection.

BinauralJam

I work for Sony Music, have since 92, it won't be gone in a few months, but perhaps in a few years. Without the record industry how would new band make it? mtv is a joke, Facebook and other such outlets still don't have the connections to venue's that the record industry have, there's an old business proverb, it's who you know.

MANKIND

i buy more cds now more than ever