The Music Industry...

The world of the music industry is one place that I’ve never been able to understand, no matter how hard I’ve tried to. You see, there are already so many people doing the same thing, it can be so damn hard to make your mark. And when you eventually make it, keeping it consistent would be tricky.

This is because there are so many one-hit wonders, or those who after only a few songs faded into obscurity. There are those that even with the help of a powerful record label backing them up, they still won’t be successful. For some, they’re able to drag their success for over a year, maybe put out an album or two before their fame begins to die down.

Either way, it’s not always a one-size-fits-all for these artists. That is why artists need the record labels, not just because of the financial investment that they would provide, but the fact that these labels have keys to doors that the individual artistes would never have had on their own. That’s how serious it is. Singing a good song is only one thing, uploading it on online platforms is only one thing.

However, if the song is going to be a rave, it has to be played on radio, it has to be played in clubs and parties. DJs have to include the song in their mixtapes, established celebrities and influencers have to endorse the song… so many things go into making the song go mainstream. And this is not something that one artiste can do. It requires a full company!

When a song goes viral, when you hear a song everywhere you go, know that it’s for a reason and there is someone working behind the scenes to make that happen. That is the job of the record label. Of course, they don’t do it for free. And it all depends on the kind of contracts that they sign.

I know very well that the deals some of these artistes get are nothing to write home about, because the labels basically take all the proceeds from the song, leaving them with little. There are a lot of things that go into all that, but in the end, the fact remains that the label takes the lion’s share of the proceeds. And for this reason, once an artiste gains stardom, they refuse to renew their contract.

Sadly, for many of them, they believe that they have built a loyal fanbase and they can survive on their own. Leaving the label would mean that they have to fund the lifestyle themselves, pay for promotions, do their promotions, pay for sound production, video making… and the list goes on. Everything would come from their pocket, and it’s a lot of money.

Unfortunately, not all of them would be able to meet up. And that is why after some artistes leave their labels, we rarely hear from them again. They would release songs, but hardly anyone would know about it. They rarely make waves even though they’re dropping good songs. They have lost that push that they once had.

Am I saying that artistes can’t make it without labels? No. there are artistes that made it without ever getting into a label and even went on to create theirs. And then, there are those who left a label and were able to stand firm on their own. And till today, they’re still a force to be reckoned with. The truth though, it’s only the minority.

The fact is that only a minority of the millions of people globally who can sing will ever gain stardom as a result, and even a fraction of that minority will be able to do it on their own and maintain it for an extended period of time. It is what it is.

So, like I said at the beginning of this post, I don’t really know much about the music industry. However, I do know that just as it can be easy for some people with seemingly no talent to make it there, it can be difficult for those with talent to make it. When those with the talent make it, they can’t focus fully on making good music because they would also have to deal with pushing their songs and whatnot… It doesn’t make sense, but it is what it is.

I can only hope that the music industry becomes less cutthroat.