Why digital downloads are a threat to musical quality

Filed in Thoughts on March 20, 2009



I walked through Best Buy last night and noticed again how small the CD section is.  The reason why of course is that CDs are rapidly being replaced as a distribution model by digital downloads.  This post will explain why that makes musicians nervous and why it could impact the quality of the music you listen to.

First of all, no one is complaining about advances in technology.  Digital downloads are great for the consumer and in some ways, great for the artist because there are no hard product costs.  A CD costs about $1 to produce, but downloads can be delivered at virtually no cost.

The problem with digital downloads is they make it ridiculously easy to get music without paying for it.  Of course, music pirating has been around for a long time.  People have been illegally copying CDs and cassette tapes for decades.  But now, music theft is skyrocketing.

Many of us like to complain about the quality of the music on the market especially in Christian music, and with good reason.  I listen to Christian radio from time to time, and I am appalled at the production quality.  During a recent 30 minute span a few weeks ago, I heard a song that was mixed incredibly bad, a song on which the lead singer was hopelessly off pitch, and many more bad things I do not want to get into here.

Here is the reality though.  As long as people (including Christians) keep stealing music from musicians, you can expect that musicians will keep cutting costs in the studio.  On even large labels for example, production budgets for projects have been slashed 50% or more.  In more extreme examples, very popular artists and groups are using synth orchestration instead of live musicians and cutting production costs from perhaps the $30,000 they would have spent in the 1990's to less than $10,000.

I do not consider music a job and I do not really profit from it.  So I am not worried too much about this from a personal standpoint.  That is not to say that the move to digital distribution will not impact what I do in the future if I am unable to sell enough to at least break even on the music I record.  But that is a minor problem compared to the musicians who feed their families from their music.

Some like to point out that musicians need to quit whining.  There is a perception that musicians are rich, and even if not, the move to digital distribution is something they just have to learn to adjust to.

There are problems with that.  I know many world-class musicians and I know many of the people that work behind the scenes of the top-selling CDs.  And I know for a fact that almost all of them are far from rich.  They are scraping out a living just like anyone else.  Having your name in the credit section of a platinum album will not buy so much as a cup of coffee.

I used to meet with a teacher in the local Steinway gallery.  While waiting for my lessons each week, I played their floor pianos and was always appalled at the shape they were in.  I asked my teacher once how a store expected to sell $60,000 Steinway pianos that sounded so bad and he said something very insightful.  He said that Steinway pianos are not sold to pianists because pianists cannot afford them.  They are sold to wealthy people who do not care how they sound because they just want to show off a Steinway in their house.

There is a lot of truth in that.  The best pianist I know of in Christian music does not even own an acoustic piano because he cannot afford it.  (He plays a keyboard.) 

Can musicians just figure out a way to make money with digital distribution?  Perhaps.  Musicians would love to adjust to new technology but their hands are tied by the openess of the technology itself.  Most musicians are selling digitally of course but they have no control as to how many times their music will be stolen once it is downloaded once off itunes.

So, digital distribution is a tricky problem that is possibly going to contribute to a lot less money being invested in producing high quality music in the future.  We need a solution desperately.  In the meantime, please think twice before engaging in pirating activities that prevent musicians from earning money from their trade. 



Will you do me a personal favor?
If you use Facebook, please take a moment and comment on this post. I appreciate the feedback and doing this helps other people learn about my resources. Non-Facebook users can leave comments using the alternate form below.


Henri Sanchez
3/20/2009 11:37:09 AM

I give you a lot of credit Greg for all the information you provide. These are things that the average person never knows. I admit I have been guilty of "borrowing" music from friends but will think twice from now on.

---

David Szweda
3/26/2009 3:54:54 PM

I agree that the distribution model has definitely changed, but unlike some, I think it has some significant benefits. The problem is that the whole model of music distribution needs to be rethought. My frustration is that recording labels and artists have been very resistant to change. For years people have been forced to pay $15 for an album in which they may only like 1 or 2 songs. In addition the consumer has been forced to take music that recording labels have embraced and have been willing to market, regardless of whether it was something the consumer wanted. Digital distribution has now made it possible for consumers to not only see bad artists, but to find some really great artists that may never have been embraced by a recording label. Musicians may not be able to rely on funds from recordings within this new model. I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing.

Ultimately I think that recordings may need to be looked at as not a source of revenue but a source of marketing, and that revenue may need to be derived from other means. There are also a lot of artists, including some that have sold over 80 million albums (so not small time artists) are giving their music away for free and are developing other models for revenue.

In the end I think this will weed out a lot of the "bad" music, but during this transition period we are getting a lot of crossover. I think if it is done right, in the end there will be great revenue for many. And yes the idea of having live musicians all the time may die.

---

Leave a Comment
All comments are reviewed for offensive content or spam. Your email is required but never used.

Name:
Website:
Email:
	Please email me follow up comments to this post.
Comment:	Note that HTML is not allowed, but your name will be linked to your site.
Verify Code: