What's the future of the music industry?

Own up, which ones of you donated?

the band are in the middle of another explosive tour across the US, keeping the DIY dream alive for venues, opening bands and of course THE FANS

Dummy with a working van: "bands need to just keep their heads down, keep their egos in check, and do the work"
Dummy with a broken van: "the underground music scene will collapse if you dont buy us a new van"

Red flag disclaimer in that go fund link: "All funds will be delivered directly to DUMMY, to use at their discretion. This fundraiser is not affiliated with the band or their management."

So, like, it could be the weed budget.

Sounds like it may not even get to them.

Collective Soul and Goo Goo Dolls both have new albums out this weekend. It’s kind of surreal to me how bands like that keep on steadily releasing new material over the years (as opposed to, say, just playing the hits in concert). Do even their fans want to hear new music from them?

Whatever happened with the Animal Collective guy's pitch for donations to ... fuck around in Africa? Indonesia?

it took deakin 7 years but he delivered on the kickstarter eventually & most of the funds went to charity.

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1091-why-animal-collectives-deakin-took-7-years-to-make-his-kickstarter-funded-album/

Do even their fans want to hear new music from them?

Something like 73 rave reviews on a new video on Collective Soul's FB page; v positive reviews of the album in Spin, American Songwriter and AMG. I'll check with my MIL next time I see her how she feels about the new material. (Not like I've been listening to it.)

New videos seem to have about 85k views on YouTube, as opposed to 57M for the official video of "Shine". I imagine it's enough that they're not flipping burgers.

if playing the hits can fund studio time and making new stuff gives you the motivation to keep playing the hits... good on ya

Collective Soul was pretty much a band making records at home from the start. The main guy Ed Roland was making demos and recording his own stuff while working as recording engineer.

There is a good interview with one of the industry recording magazines (maybe even Tape Op) about him I read. That first record was made with ADATs and an Alesis drum machine.

Having lived in Buffalo from 05-08, the Goo Goo Dolls definitely had their devotees; I imagine they still do.

Yeah they locked into their niche and kept at it. Still have a fondness for the early albums in general.

The third Goo Goo Dolls album is the best Replacements album.

I guess it's a blind spot for me! Had no idea there were such committed Collective Soul fans.

xpost No lie!

This is part of the filter bubble phenomenon in the streaming age - people who accidentally or deliberately streamed a few of their songs, will keep getting fed new material by these artists.

So to the listeners caught in that bubble, Goo Goo Dolls are still a huge current band “you hear on the radio all the time” even if they’ve long disappeared for most of the rest of the world.

last decade of goos albums has been pretty unlistenable and trend-hoppy. haven’t attempted the new one

This is part of the filter bubble phenomenon in the streaming age - people who accidentally or deliberately streamed a few of their songs, will keep getting fed new material by these artists.

So to the listeners caught in that bubble, Goo Goo Dolls are still a huge current band “you hear on the radio all the time” even if they’ve long disappeared for most of the rest of the world.

Enh, lots of bands have a core of loyal fans who aren't necessarily deluded about their current popularity. I had to turn off the new GGD single before it was over, though.

Of course, but in the past it became obvious to them that their favourite band had fallen out of favour by noticing they had disappeared from radio and tv.

Today, those fans would never know: new releases by the band will pop up in their ad feed, their youtube feed, their spotify feed, so the illusion is never broken.

erstwhile ilxor emilys pointed me to the new GGD video, in which Johnny R looks profoundly confused by the goings-on around him, as if, coming from the age of the multimillion dollar MTV promo push, he can't quite accept that this low-budgey simulated party really is the video shoot.

This is the contemporary equivalent of state fair circuit Classic Rock bands signing to CMC International in 1997.

I forgot where I mentioned this, but the recent-ish summer fest by the Houston Alternative station was anchored by bands whose heyday was 1995-2005.

Old Growth Pop

I took a look at the Billboard top 200 albums chart today and was a little struck by how much old music and compilations are on it. The current US chart (https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/) includes
Queen - Greatest Hits (30)
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (36)
CCR - Chronicle: the 20 Greatest Hits (44)
Elvis - 30 #1 Hits (60)
2Pac - Greatest Hits (68)
Journey's Greatest Hits (69)
Michael Jackson - Thriller (77)
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits (80)
Eminem - Curtain Call: the Hits (81)
Guns n Roses - Greatest Hits (84)
AC/DC - Back in Black (86)
Nirvana - Nevermind (96)
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Legend (97)
Michael Jackson - The Essential Michael Jackson (100)

You can continue to find comps by ABBA, Bon Jovi, George Strait, Nickelback, Lynyrd Skynyrd in the 101-200 range, and Metallica's black album.

For comparison, this chart from August 1992 contains only one album that wouldn't have been relatively recent at the time - Queen's Greatest Hits, which was surely enjoying a boost since Mercury had died not too long ago. I tried to imagine telling someone in 1992 that Elvis, CCR, Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, Journey, Bon Jovi and Guns n Roses would be on the charts in 30 years.

That's nothing compared to the UK charts week in week out
https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/

My loose thoughts: they really should just have a heritage chart at this stage, containing anything older than a few years maybe, other than dedicated new re-releases.

Christ, half that chart has been in for 100 weeks or more.

Yeah I wasn't even mentioning stuff like Taylor Swift's 1989 and Kanye West's College Dropout. Lol the UK chart though. The Canadian chart is a similar story - the compilations appear even higher with Queen at 20, ABBA at 30, more Shania Twain and Tragically Hip, less Skynyrd and George Strait, Appetite instead of a GH but yeah. Is this just because when they count streaming numbers, they effectively count the equivalent of every time someone put on a classic rock station or spun their copy of Rumours in 92?

Wow - Taylor has seven albums on the BB 200

The two Queen comps in the '92 list were there because they were technically new releases put together to launch Hollywood Records' reissue campaign of the Queen catalogue, and were gifted extra commercial legs by the release of Wayne's World and the related single rerelease of "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Regular catalogue albums like Rumours etc. were ineligible for the Top 200 unless they received a new reissue. This stood until the industry cratered enough that they let any catalogue release in just to make #'s and not have like some SoundCloud dude who pushed 500 units chartbust.

All those albums cited in the new chart are doing the business on vinyl in big box stores.

Ah, that's more context.

My loose thoughts: they really should just have a heritage chart at this stage

Disgraced UKIP boosting DJ Mike Read is on the case! https://www.heritagechart.co.uk/

U Music chief sez he's not down with the status quo: https://variety.com/2023/music/news/universal-music-lucian-grainge-slams-streaming-economy-spotify-1235486063/

Obv I wouldn't trust him to make a magically better model that reduces his business's share, but at least he's not saying he has one, and it's good to see this on the record.

Billboard article making the case that the album remains strong: https://www.billboard.com/pro/album-format-dead-narrative-music-discovery-tiktok-singles/

hmm paywall

Weird, I didn’t hit it – try this?

that'll do it, thanks!

Interesting article - thanks for sharing

UMG "calls time out" on TikTok: https://www.universalmusic.com/an-open-letter-to-the-artist-and-songwriter-community-why-we-must-call-time-out-on-tiktok/

Yeah this isn't surprising

https://variety.com/2024/music/news/hipgnosis-songs-takeover-by-concord-1235974846/