For the Creative Soul > Something's Coming
e...@creativesoulonline.com
Down through the sky,
Gleam in its eye,
Bright as a rose!
Who knows?"
My daughter and I love West Side Story, with a passion. We sing it,
watch it, read the script (yes I know, Eric quit teaching your child
bad habits).
In the movie, Tony (the Romeo character in this Romeo and Juliet style
musical) is so excited despite the challenges in his current life. He
just KNOWS something is coming. Something good. (Fortunately and
unfortunately it's Maria, the love of his soon to be shortened life.)
Like Tony I feel like something is coming from the Lord. Something
that will revolutionize this city, the Christian music business, and
all of our collective talents.
Yes, despite the recession that is not a recession, and the election
that doesn't really offer much choice, I think there is a groundswell
of minds, ministries, talents, skills, processes, and ideas that are
forming to bring about a huge change that we are starting to see now.
Like the internet music buying public we were promised in 2000, but
didn't arrive until last year, there is a new model beginning to form
on how we all will do business in the future music/ministry wise.
It will be a model that will use every formerly used person in the
former music business, and will use them the same, yet different ways.
For instance, the world class players will be constantly busy playing,
but maybe not in $1800/day studios. Instead they will be working (as
many do already) in their home studio, cranking out amazing guitar,
bass, drums, or keyboard parts for a producer down the road or across
the country.
As a producer working with these folks, I can see this happening
already (and am already doing alot of this work now already!!).
Not only that but those folks who have been inside the music industry
for years will be transformed into consultants, a new kind of
executive producer, and/or vice president of a whole new form of A&R.
These new companies that are already forming will be lean and tightly
run, and able to turn on a dime and quickly adapt to new technologies
and processes that pop up every month.
Yes, we will continue to see things evolve, live, and die like AOL,
Myspace, YouTube, but these are nothing new. Technology and design is
just faster now. Instead of the phonograph, radio, TV, computer, CD,
MP3 transformation that took 100 years, we're seeing that many more
world-changing ideas in just the last 10 years of the internet being
widely used.
Small indie labels and artists have been able to jump on these ideas
as they have become applicable to their use. Soon if not tomorrow, the
new music businesses will be able to move almost as quickly. Kind of
like in Jurassic Park when instead of big lumbering dinos, you had
smart, quick raptors to deal with...it kind of changes the game. (And
you have to run faster or be mauled, if not eaten :)
So what does this all mean?
It's good thing folks.
Still, talent, calling, heart, and drive (or any three of those) will
determine which artists do well, and which do not. But it will mean a
whole new ballgame to both all the artists out there, and the folks
involved in the industry here and everywhere.
Read the "Future of Music", it's an awesome book and when you read
this three year old book, you'll see much that's already come true.
One of their main points is that while a music product (CD) is
becoming less valuable, the music itself is still very valuable. While
"sales" may go down, people are going to see "live" music as much as
ever. Which is why folks like Madonna and Dave Matthews are signing
with Live Nation instead of their old record companies.
And the beauty of all this is, like Jazz and Classical which have
always been genres that you go see live as opposed to buying or
hearing on the radio, Christian is very much the same.
The church and similar event stages always have and still do offer a
tremendous, unending stream of opportunity for the Christian music
artist.
God is now reshaping the music 'business' so that we can all be more
effective and fulfilled than ever, artists, musicians, and business
folk alike.
Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something’s coming, something’ good,
If I can wait!
Something’s comin’, I don’t know what it is
But it is
Gonna be great!
Ah but the waiting...and there's a whole other blog.
Have a great week!
EC
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Eric Copeland runs Creative Soul, a consulting, production, and artist
services company outside Nashville, TN, and thinks just maybe that his
company is on the edge of what God has planned. For more info check
out http://www.CreativeSoulOnline.com