Soccer Dad

The music biz

Instapundit writing about a musical career - in a discussion about his brother.

It's a hard life, and the source of lots of jokes -- "What's the difference between a musician and a large pepperoni pizza? The pizza can feed a family of four." -- but what's amazing is how many people give it a go anyway. Most don't get as close to making it big as my brother has, and yet even those who get signed by big record labels usually don't make all that much money, really. A few get pretty rich, but most, even among those with record contracts, don't make enough money to justify all the time and effort they put into it.

If I understand an article from last year in the Washington Post, there are now greater opportunities for musicians than touring and records. The article "Indie Bands jumping on the Brand Wagon tells of how popular music acts are more and more selling their songs for marketing purposes.

Bob Mould is best known for his 1980s punk band Husker Du. Now 45, the guitarist and vocalist sells his new music primarily by touring and through his Web site. But it's a grind.

So Mould was thrilled when he was contacted recently by the music supervisor for the hit Fox show "The OC," who wanted to use a recording from Mould's most recent album in an upcoming episode.

The producers paid "in the low five figures," Mould said, to play his song "Circles" on the show multiple times, making it exactly the kind of deal that Mould, and artists like him, are looking for now.

And it's not just TV shows, but commercials too.

The result is that corporate music buyers are changing the economics of being an independent musician. The once-standard dream of a record deal and radio play is giving way to the reality of restaurants, retailers and automakers scouring the industry for little-known music that can lend mood and edge to marketing campaigns.

In fact my wife has a cousin who's a music broker. If a TV show is looking for a theme song, a broker might find an appropriate song and then arrange the sale of rights to the show.

These new opportunities might not make more of the super rich. But it should give more of the non-superstars a chance to make a comfortable living.

(And this is one more way that capitalism is good for music.)

Blogdigger tags: Popular Music, Marketing.