Sam Kuhns
Special to In Motion
It’s a story that everyone’s heard before: a bunch of kids with stars in their eyes and less-than-impressive instruments get together in a garage and make noise. Eventually, after years of practice, more practice, and failure, they might carve out some modicum of success in the music industry.
A common dream among musicians everywhere, it’s also one that for many seems uniquely in-reach. But this age-old ambition is becoming less accessible to up-and-coming musicians as everything in our society, the music industry included, becomes increasingly dependent on the Internet.
While file sharing has technically been a problem for the music industry since the ‘90s, advances in technology make it much easier to pirate and download music in mass quantities. Streaming services like Spotify, though great for music fans and those who insist on being able to listen to every possible piece of music an artist has ever released, have decimated the practice of spending money on music at all, let alone buying entire albums. All of these things combined have made making a living playing more difficult for young musicians.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” says local musician/producer Evan Blaine, guitarist of Daytona Beach’s Bad Luck and owner/operator of World Championship Studios (https://www.facebook.com/WorldChampionshipStudios).
“On one hand, the Internet and all its resources make things like getting your stuff out there and booking tours way easier, you know? And that’s great because in a way there aren’t any gatekeepers anymore.”
These positives seem like to benefit musicians, but the lack of people willing to pay for music overwhelms the amount of musicians willing to make music solely for exposure.
“Anyone can be a musician now, but on the other hand,” Blaine continues, “because of things like file sharing, people don’t value music nearly as much. Bands are a dime a dozen and because you can find pretty much anything online for free, no one wants to pay for music. In a lot of ways the odds of ‘making it’ are even slimmer today.”
Lack of gatekeepers might be one benefit of the music industry in the Internet age, as far as recording and releasing music, but it’s not enough to outweigh the negative aspects, according to Jake Kneer, promoter for local booking agency Daytona Shows.
“Look, I obviously love shows, I’m a promoter,” says Kneer. “And yes, the Internet has made booking tours easier. Much, much easier. And that’s great. Sometimes bands can make that work, they can live off of going on tour and selling merchandise and all that. But the lack of people buying records is hurting everybody.”
Kneer went on to lament the days of music past and musicians who were able to make a living at their craft.
“I’ve seen bands that tour year-round and make literally only enough money to keep doing that. It’s sad because these are bands that deserve to make a living at what they’re doing and they just can’t. It didn’t used to be this way. I understand that not everyone’s Nirvana, but if you worked hard enough this used to be something you could carve a life out of, and it’s sad that it doesn’t seem to be that way anymore. Unless you’re extremely lucky, it’s really hard to get anywhere financially in this business these days.”
Although things may seem dark for aspiring musicians, Blaine remains optimistic about the future of music.
“Look, we can sit here all day and talk all day about how the Internet is ruining the music business,” he says, “but the ones who are going to succeed are the same as they’ve always been: the ones who pick up their guitars and do it. And that’s what we plan on doing.”