3. Independent Labels

Don’t have 360 deals and don’t have cash. If someone is telling you they’re starting an indie label, laugh. Unless that someone is a manager and already has an interest in 360 degrees of revenue.

Suddenly, you’re your own label. You get all the money, but you’re doing all the work. Which artists are historically poor at.

So expect a roll-up of new acts.

So far, TM/LN is not in this business. And Red Light has a lot of acts, but little traction.

Some smart cookie, much younger than the players of today, will build a hit act. The old-fashioned way, slowly, via a lot of touring, employing new technology to spread the word. The success of this act will draw other new acts to this person. And out of nowhere, suddenly, you’re going to have a brand new powerhouse.

These will be acts the oldsters want no part of at first. Because they don’t see enough revenue. That’s how new players always get started. By finding that which few are interested in and becoming the new mainstream. These new acts will be music focused. They won’t even think about Top Forty radio. They’ll put the fans first. But, they might just end up writing a ubiquitous track. Which is built by the people, not the industry.