present state of the independent music economy

[the undisputed truth]

Times is tough but that doesn't neccessarily mean life is hard. Poor people in the most deprived areas by western standards can still be happy and have that happiness reflected in their art. If dubstep incorporating ethnic sounds is reflective of the state of the UK underground music scene which in turn is reflective of post 9/11 UK politics then maybe it's time you looked further afield in the present as opposed to looking backwards to a glorious past .Sometimes the grass really is greener elsewheres. Emigrate if you have to. By and large though isn't that what you've done with regards to ignoring the geographics and culture and just take what you will from the music. The old colonial mindset ? For instance with grime no one really wants to confront the whole poor back inner city thing but reather deal solely with the music as is ? Sorry if this post is all over the place. It's only meant to inspire discussion and maybe the ideas will develop and solidify out of that.

 

[qwerty south]

i read somewhere that def jux was getting 6 figure revenues from legal downloads (before they launched their own download store).

 

[D84]

lots of interesting points being raised here. In case you missed it from the Hip Hop thread Poisonous Dart's post to AllHipHop on "backpacker hiphop" has some interesting points on this. Some quotes:

In 1996, the Telecommunications Act was passed. This allowed larger companies to go and buy independent radio stations and put them under their umbrella. The companies that benefited the most from this were Emmis Communications and Clearchannel. Soon there were “chain radio stations” in effect across the country. Next, record labels began to trim the fat and whole labels folded and several acts that were prominent before 1996 either became dropped from their labels or they experienced diminished roles of importance in the industry. Artists such as Large Professor, who was signed by Geffen years before and was seen as a landmark signing at the time...until they realized that he wasn’t ever going to move a lot of units...they shelved his album and released him from his deal immeadiately. Right around this time a division in the industry began to happen...by 1997 it would be complete.

The division was mainly between the normally “underground/gutter/grimy” and “conscious” hip hop heads and the artists that rhymed about material wealth and the like...

“backpacker”. This term can be used as an adjective or a derogatory term given the context. It makes me laugh, really. None of the people that use this term realize that it’s all basically the product of a perfectly executed plan to remove the creativity, lyricism, fun and conciousness from mainstream rap. The Willie Lynch theory was once again put into effect. Conscious vs. Material. Hustlers vs. Emcees. Underground vs. Mainstream. Crunk vs. Hyphy. Reggaeton vs. Grime. Old vs. Young....Yes, indeed.

In Australia - or perhaps only Sydney - the rot set in (to my mind at any rate) when the government youth radio station in Sydney 2JJJ went national and the management and DJs were gutted and replaced with naive youngsters and a CEO from a commercial classic hits station.

Sydney venues started dying almost instantly - helped along by real estate wankers worried about noise complaints etc (what do you expect when you buy a house next to a pub?) - and many small labels which were doing ok were either bought out or folded.

Things have changed now a decade or so later with new stations and the like filling the void but the damage was done imho.