Three things have ben brewing over the last few years, and have now formed a perfect storm. 1. You no longer need a big expensive studio to record music. You can do it on a laptop with the right software. 2. Internet distribution has opened another route to market for the bands to get their music into the hands (well onto the iPods anyway) of their fans and form closer relationships. 3. New products, such as phone ringtones, lucrative stadium concert tours and product endorsements have eclipsed the CD as the principal source of income for the band.

I no longer need a large dedicated studio to record music. I would still need talent behind the mixing desk, but that mixing desk is now an Apple Mac running GarageBand. A €2,000 laptop with €100 of software is all you need to make your masterpiece.

Back in the day a band would play local gigs and build up a fan base in the hope of being spotted by a music publisher. They’d get a “deal” and make some money. If you weren’t spotted a life of playing in a wedding band awaited. Now a band in outer Mongolia with 5,000+ MySpace friends could easily get noticed and signed by an A&R rep in a Los Angeles.

But not getting signed by a major label is not the end of the world. A small band can record their album on their MacBook, promote it on their MySpace page and sell it on one of a hundred websites dedicated to selling music unsigned bands online and you’re making money. The costs of entry into mass distribution are now so low that the bands can finance it themselves. All it takes is a computer and some low end software to manufacture it. Because the website sales process is totally automatic they can afford to charge a % of the sale, rather than look for up-front money. Once you’re up and running you might even be able to get your music offered on iTunes, where you’re mixing it with the big boys.

The other thing that has happened is the realisation that there are other ways for musicians to make money. Nobody under thirty has a ringtone on their phone that was there when they bought it. Everyone now has either an amusing sound clip, or a 15 second clip of their favourite chart hit which they’ve paid €3+ for. You can now buy video ringtones, where your phone display plays the music video at the same time.

At the height of his fame Michael Jackson made a staggering amount of money endorsing Pepsi, but it now there are specialist brand agencies pairing up products with stars. Everyone of note is endorsing cars, drinks, shoes. The Police made $142,000,000 touring this year. They haven’t released music in two decades and they still raked in $3m for a nights work! I even paid my €138, plus a €35 t-shirt when they came to Dublin!

Most of these new, non CD related activities do not require the help of a record label to pull off. In fact unless they all work in concert (i.e. the ringtone being in place when the single is released, along with web promotion, and a tour ready to go…), the band’s income will suffer. In recognition of this Madonna has famously signed a “360 degree” contract. A single company will manage all her activities for the next 10 years across CDs, touring, TV, movies, ringtones etc., and vitally, this company isn’t her old record label, who she left after 25 years, it’s a concert promoter.

The Year The Industry Broke – News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News

Cal Band- Video Game Show 2007

The only bitches I have about the gig were:

1. They brought along Sting’s son’s band as a support act, and to be honest, they should stick to the London pub circuit.
2. People started leaving early to beat the traffic. For fuck’s sake, they missed the entire four song encore!!!