Dear FRONTLINE,
Kudos on a great program that illustrates how the creative spirit is being squashed in favor of quick and dirty profit.
The guy from Rolling Stone put it best. There is no local buzz, there is no local program directors willing to try new music on radio, a band does not grow out of one geographical area and generates interest in other areas by spreading through word of mouth and local DJ's anymore.
Now we have 5 big conglomerates who tell the public what to like and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to make sure you do like it, then they send the prepackaged product to Clear Channel which depending on the market may own 33% of the radio stations to force feed the public and then Wal-Mart sells the product cause they have been able to undercut the small record shops and exclusive shops that just sell music and effective take them out of the marketplace in places like the south and mid-west.
So thanks to this new dynamic we are getting more and more crap being thrust down our throats and "American Idol" is the crystallization of all three of these monopolies making sure you want this garbage.
And they wonder why kids go online and download music for free?
Dave Haller
Ashburn, VA
Dear FRONTLINE,
Music will never die. If the corporate music industry dies though it will be the best thing for the art of music in America since the cultural music barriers fell between black and white people.It will put music back in the hands of everyone, nomore producer driven factory music.
The best music is coming from musicians whose ambitions dont include vast wealth and fame.Death of Big business music. I'm praying for it!
Daniel Swink
Columbia, sc
Dear FRONTLINE,
Your program ignored some of the key reasons why the music industry is in such dire straits. Until recently I worked for over ten years at the retail side of the business and have noticed the following:
1) 30-40 years ago radio was the leading pop culture medium that influenced young people. It's been replaced by tv and computers. Entertainment software formats that didn't exist back then have now eclipsed music. Yearly sales of video games (software and hardware), computer games, and DVD's dwarf sales generated by the music industry as a whole, and billions of dollars that used to be spent on music are now spent on these formats. A new video game costs 3-4 times what a new cd costs. The number of titles released in these formats is only a very small fraction of the number of albums released each year in music. The excitement that used to be generated around the release of a new album by a major artist has now been replaced by excitement over the latest game or newest piece of video software. The biggest yearly sellers in these formats can sell millions of units in a matter of weeks, while the biggest selling albums can take a year or two to achieve similiar sales levels.
2) Retail is also to blame. The record companies are releasing all of this product and the stores won't stock it. Music takes up a lot of floor space to carry and the chains are more concerned about yearly inventory turns and yearly dollars generated per square foot of floor space than carrying enough selection to satisfy consumer demand for a broader selection. Plus the gross profit margins on music are lower than on many other products that ths stores carry. Studies have consistently shown for decades that most music shoppers go into the store to buy a specific title and that if the store doesn't have it in stock at that time their intent to buy it quickly fades. The vast majority of these buyers will not go on line make the same purchase. A recent music industry study showed that the most underserved segment of the music buying public are the baby boomers, who come into the stores still wanting to buy music, but the stores don't have what they want to buy.
Marty Feldman
Edina, Minnesota
Dear FRONTLINE,
I do not etirely blame the industry. It is the customers that dictate the market. The majortiy of new music I hear comes from the festivals and publc radio stations like WXPN. I am still optimistic on the future of our music. Yearly I attend festivals around the states. It is in festivals like the Telluride Bluegrass that you see the music is very still alive but the ears are dying. Music and poetry are no longer a part of our education and as a result the market has become what it is. If Robert Zimmerman was just starting today, I wonder where he would go.
dain drake
Houston, Texas
Dear FRONTLINE,
As a primarily internet based artist that has achieved a healthy margin of success (including musical appearances on international TV specials and in retail outlets nation wide) I was distressed at how quickly and lightly your special glossed over the internet music revolution.
There is an entire subculture of disenfranchised musicians and fans that coexist daily on the World Wide Web. Declining record sales and the sad state of the recording industry are at least to some extent one of the direct results of this interaction.
There is good music out there. There are compelling artists out there. There are very inexpensive ways to get music to fans. Its too bad Frontline did not see fit to dig a little deeper in and effort to expose this relationship.
Lance Hayes (AKA DJ Drunken Master)
Seattle, WA
Dear FRONTLINE,
Had the recording industry learned the lessons of their past, there is little doubt that the current situation would be vastly improved. After reading the section "Chronology: Technology and the Music Industry", it is amazing that the recording industry has even lasted to this day. At almost every opportunity, the industry has rejected new technology, formats, and ideas.
Through its history, no fewer than 12 advancements were met by recording industry legal action or RIAA lobby efforts. Instead of actively focusing on future ideas or advancements, the industry has fought ferociously against change via legal manuvering. The one exception is the embracing of CDs, a new idea and technology of incredible success. But that was a fluke. Complacency and/or the refusal to adapt its business model to change resulted in its current sorry status. Relatively miniscule funds and any sort of eye to the future probably could have foresaw an opportunity in the internet. (Remember, the phenomenon of Napster was created by 2 college students--heck, the recording industry could've probably hired them for a relatively small amount) Instead, they failed to adapt (again), and they missed out completely.
Finally, they started adapting with a viable MP3 format 13 years after it was created. Legal action, the industry standard tool for fighting against change, is again in use. Their "enemy" has changed from competitor or even employee, however, to its own customers. The marketplace is that of evolving and changing industries. Those who fail to change and adapt adequately do not succeed. The recording industry should be no different than any other industry in the marketplace; an industry that sues its own customers does not deserve a spot in any economy.
Ben Brehm
Madison, WI
Dear FRONTLINE,
frontline has always been a source of information when it comes to politics, but they failed me tonight. they turned their attention to the music industry and showed their age in the bands they chose to highlight. of course the industry has changed, but new music will always prevail. regardless of these changes, i don't doubt that with all the hurdels, the best bands will still come forward.
ryan doke
lawrence, kansas
Dear FRONTLINE,
The consolidation of the music industry as a whole has a demorilizing affect on artist everywhere the veiw is almost can't win why bother trying? and here in Toronto there is a definite saturation of talent and we are so small and removed that some of us still do it for the music. ONLY.
(Not saying we won't sign when it comes, but we'll play till we're poor enough that we cans't play no more)
Arius Kermani
Toronto, Ontario
Dear FRONTLINE,
I'm dissappointed - Frontline did not deliver its customary indepth analysis.
I've got to say I agree with Zach Garland's take: "I felt it was no longer Frontline, but an infomercial for G&R as comeback kids and the daughter of a Hudson brother."
How ironic, Frontline became an MTV-like tool.
Jamie Delman
San Francisco, CA
Dear FRONTLINE,
Back in 1996, I spent an evening with a well-respected music producer and his 13 year old son. We talked about the lack of longevity in the careers of young artists, who were coming and going, it seemed to me, like flashbulbs-blinding white hot for an instant, then dark and gone for good. My friend accurately predicted the current industry meltdown and attributed the causes to the same ones you covered on FRONTLINE. The entire music industry, record companies, broadcasters, distributors, and the rest, had its head in the sand for a very long time.
But the most surprising comment of the evening came from his son. He was a budding musician then, just learning how to play the bass. When I asked him what he listened to, he replied "Jazz, mostly. All the stuff on radio and MTV is stupid."
There are lots of kids like him out there who are starved for good music outside of what is forced on them, and they are finding it. Good for them, and bad for the industry until it finally focuses on modest, steady returns and musical diversity again throughout the entire recording and broadcasting industries. The mega-corporate model simply doesn't work for the music industry any more. It was a flashbulb, at best, and it's dark now.
Michael R. Stanger
Idaho Falls, ID
Dear FRONTLINE,
-The trouble can be found by asking the manager of VelvetRevolver why he is going to make much more money (15% of gross) then any band member. After management, their agent is in for another 15% of gross; plus the transportation,motels, food, gas, promotion and all other operating expenses. After this is paid the band splits the remaining net ñ 5 ways.
-The trouble can be found by asking the A&R man why the band will see .$09 and RCA .$.91 for every dollar of sales.
-The trouble can be found by asking why the band will be required, by contract, to relinquish future publishing rights and revenues to the record company.
-The trouble can be found by asking the lawyer why the artist isn't told that the entertainment lawyer they are paying to negotiate their recording contract is most likely in the employ of the record company.
-The trouble can be found by asking all the pitiable and struggling record companies, all 5 of them, why after a sold out tour and cd sales of between 3 and 4 million dollars everyone made money, except for the band. After the first release most acts end the fiscal year in the red.
The minorities control of the majority of radio stations is a problem but one that's too played out and one that masks a bigger and more serious problem. Radio stations both big and small have always worked off a play list. The idea of the independent DJ is more myth then reality.
The Internet gave birth to an infinite number of radio stations requiring minimal overhead cost. The captains of the music industry were the last to see the potential but the first to steal it as their own. They decided that now was a good time to make use of all those politicians they paid so much for. They cried that the money, 4%,that is owed to the publishers legal muscle ñ ASCAP and BMI ñ for public performance rights would not be collected. Now it's common knowledge that if and when a radio station paid these fees it was at their discretion. The sop is for the media promotional representatives of the industry to pay the standard $100,000 to 500,000 donation for promotion of the arts. Payola is illegal you see.
With their weeping and gnashing of teeth combined with a few more campaign contributions and power lunches with the FCC the RIAA was able to present to their masters the DRMA, and the Micky Mouse/Widow Bono Never Ending IP and Copyright Act. At this point the last threat to the distribution monopoly long held by the same powers that hold the recording monopoly was destroyed.
Tom Meehan
SLC, UT
Dear FRONTLINE,
As usual, your piece did an excellent job and started a lot of people thinking.
I have been in the music industry for close to 30 years and my love/hate relationship with the industry really took a turn for the worse in the 80's with the start of MTV. Of course it got worse with Clear Channel in the 90's. I do wish a little more exploration had been done on the future of the music industry, however. I do not believe that it will die, I do think it will re-invent itself. I do not think that the Internet is the saving grace of music, but another tool to expose the music to the people. As a nightclub DJ and dance music promoter, I deal with dance music in a fashion not unlike how radio used to. If it works we play it, if it clears the floor (often) we don't. But that relationship is still between myself and the buying public and letting them have a say in whether they like a tune or not. Its not forced down their throats and we respect each other. Currently, there is little respect on either side.
John England
Seattle, WA
Dear FRONTLINE,
I agree with everything David Crosby said and especially enjoyed his wit in the broadcast clips. For those of us who a part of Crosby's generation and enjoyed popular music 40 years ago, there is an old tune by the Rolling Stones called the "Under Assistant West Coast Promo Man." This song was a satire on the music business that remains true today. Star."
Larry Albert
Anchorage, Alaska
Dear FRONTLINE,
It is funny, that even though your piece was working to expose the inner workings of the industry, trying to find the next hit, you were guilty of the same industry fascism. The artist's you profiled were as " cookie cutter" as Mr. Crosby stated, as you could get. The aging rock stars trying to regain the brass ring, and the daughter of a faded star ( Do I smell nepotism? ) trying to break with a bank roll the true struggling musician would kill for.
If you were trying to show all aspects of the music industry, why not show the musicians who pool together thier couple thousands they earn from dead end, day gigs as fry cooks or warehouse workers, to make an album on outdated equipment they set up in thier bass players garage, to make the album that will change the course of modern pop music.
As for downloaded music to just have the hits, I say to all struggling artists of real merit, just upload your tunes to whatever music website you can. The people themselves will dictate the the direction music will go. Stop relying on the corperate heads to tell you what they want. A true artists doesn't care about the money, they just want to be heard.
Monique Imperial
Whittier, Ca
Dear FRONTLINE,
Well I watched Frontline this week with great anticipation waiting to see what gems of information you would have on the music industry machine, but sadly there were none to be seen. Did you really have to make the show such a plug for artists that already have the whole marketing machine behind them? I mean what's the point of that? Music industry marketing executives do not deserve one more second of airtime, especially from Frontline (?) I'm just baffled.
Plus, I just wanted to say that I think you've been borrowing some semi-revisionist history ideas from MTV such as:
Guns and Roses ruled the world in the late 80's early nineties.
Hip hop is the only true musical art form.
I just want to make a few sugestions for investigative type reports you could do on the music industry (you can compensate me later):
1. Show people how bad singers can be made good singers through studio 'magic'. (e.g. Michele Branch)
2. Show the music industry executives' lavish homes and lifestyles and ask them to say how terrible the industry is doing while they're laying out by their enormous pools.
3. Find out exactly what 'selling-out' means. There are probably thousands of artists who have true talent, but instead of following their instincts they listened to 'the machine' and made crap and how it ruined their careers.
4. Or how about showing an artist who is successful without ever using a major record label. I'm sure there's some around.
Ok, maybe I'm not cut out to be a Frontline producer (yet) but you can call me if you need help on the next Frontline.
Randy Poynter 
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