To Record or Not to Record, That is the Question.

Recently Stevie Nicks stated that Fleetwood Mac will not be recording any more studio albums.  This is not because they do not want to, she said that there is no longer enough people buying the records to make it worth the effort.

I do love spending time in the studio working on music but the question now is if it is worth the expense. 

Thanks to sites such and the one named after the first woman in Greek Mythology (who unleased Heaven and Hell upon humanity), or the one that sounds like it won't come out in the wash, few people actually buy music anymore.  In fact, my last royalty check from the above (sort of) mentioned company was $17.42.  It was returned and my bank charged me a $20 "Returned Check Fee".  I'm not sure who I should be more mad at in that case, the company for the returned check or the bank for the fee.  Either way, it cost me.

An article on "The Trichordist" (https://thetrichordist.com/2013/06/24/my-song-got-played-on-pandora-1-million-times-and-all-i-got-was-16-89-less-than-what-i-make-from-a-single-t-shirt-sale/) shows how they made $16.89 on 1,159,000 plays of a song.

Artists make their money on live shows and merchandise sales.  Sometimes, enough for gas money to get to the next venue and something to eat may be considered a good night.  Is it worth it to spend the thousands of dollars (or more) to record a studio album that may not sell?

One of the things I am looking into is recording shows live and making the recording available to the audience that evening either on CD or flash drive.  I got the idea from Steve Poltz, he said that he has done it before.  The quality won't be perfect and any mistakes will be forever imprinted but it is a good way to save a memory of the experience.  These would only be available at the merch booth after the show.

What are your thoughts?

14 comments