At 5:29 PM -0500 3/6/08, dhbailey wrote:
Kim Patrick Clow wrote:
[snip]
But wouldn't you say that is true for what the big boys did as well? Big
boys meaning
large media outlets, such a record labels, book publishers, etc. There were
a few things
that sold really well, that allowed those businesses to work, while the
other 90 percent
didn't make them all that much money.
But it was so much easier to find the good stuff because there was
less stuff to begin with. Going into a music store to buy
something, especially with any experience behind you to know which
publishers were most likely to have the kind of stuff you would want
to buy, was easy. Yes, 90% of what was available was crap, but there
was so much less stuff to begin with in those days. It used to be
so much easier to find the good stuff.
Well, we're all making up these percentages, of course, but yes, I'd
say the preliminary screening by record labels and music publishers
DID get rid of at least half that 90% of crap, at least the stuff by
the musically incompetent or illiterate, and those with a low supply
of creativity or no knowledge of the marketplace.
But you really can't compare music publishing with book publishing.
A best-selling novel can generate millions, quite enough to keep
publisher, author, and author's agent happy and ready to move on the
the next best seller. I doubt that any music in history has
generated that kind of interest and that kind of income, certainly no
classical music. Which is why composers don't have composers' agents
working on their business deals, and why publishers can demand that
copyrights be signed over to them as a condition of publishing a
piece of music, while best selling authors retain their copyrights
and publishers make nice with them.
It may be that the significant question is whether music
self-publishing is a viable business, or whether it's the equivalent
of vanity press publication in the world of literature and poetry.
John
--
John R. Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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