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So, we are trekking across fields at Glastonbury Festival, on our way to watch Jamie xx, talking about the future of the music business…
Let’s start by agreeing that the streaming debate is done. The future is mostly streaming, with a tiny, but potentially lucrative, slice of physical product and a big chunk of what we could call ‘experience’ based stuff - that means live shows, DJ shows, parties in pubs, artists cooking you lunch and anything else that we can come up with that people might want to pay for.
If that’s the case, how can producers, labels, artists and musicians who are not in the pop machine deal with the new landscape? It’s going to be a tough, long march across those digital fields, isn’t it?
Perhaps. But my view is pretty positive. Streaming is all about, to steal a brilliant phrase from Team Sky Cycling boss Dave Brailsford, ‘the aggregation of marginal gains’. That means complicated statements with tiny amounts of money on them that can still, over time, with enough tracks, add up to a significant income. Each track is like a little child, going out into the digital world, making its own way and eventually, hopefully, making its own living. That means that it makes total sense to push all potential listeners to platforms that pay royalties, which, at the moment, is mostly Spotify and Apple Music.
I have recently started properly engaging with a small but growing audience on Spotify, using playlists to do the same thing that my Melodica radio show does - making links between genres and collecting music that is really great. At the moment I have three playlists on there. The Balearic one is the most popular, and that feeds back into a new compilation series with the same name, which is available digitally (so there are marginal gains to be had there), and physically on CD and vinyl, with real sales and potential profits to be had.
Balearic is a distillation of all that I’m talking about - it’s streaming, and that streaming leads, I hope, to the purchase of beautifully packaged items containing a selection of timeless tunes. It’s also a great night out in a pub, the back room of a club, or at a festival, where you will hear a load of tunes from that Spotify Balearic playlist. More gains and a few free beers to be had there too. All that - digital, physical and experience - is a great way to live with my obsession with listening to and sharing music.
Chris Coco has been working as a DJ since the acid house explosion of the late eighties. He has since edited DJ magazine, worked for BBC Radio 1 on the after-hours show The Blue Room and made artist albums for Warp and Distinctive Records. His music has appeared on compilations including Cafe Del Mar and featured in TV shows suchs as Sex and the City, Nip Tuck and House among others.
chriscoco.com / balearicrecs.com
This comment featured in the latest issue of M magazine.
Let’s start by agreeing that the streaming debate is done. The future is mostly streaming, with a tiny, but potentially lucrative, slice of physical product and a big chunk of what we could call ‘experience’ based stuff - that means live shows, DJ shows, parties in pubs, artists cooking you lunch and anything else that we can come up with that people might want to pay for.
If that’s the case, how can producers, labels, artists and musicians who are not in the pop machine deal with the new landscape? It’s going to be a tough, long march across those digital fields, isn’t it?
Perhaps. But my view is pretty positive. Streaming is all about, to steal a brilliant phrase from Team Sky Cycling boss Dave Brailsford, ‘the aggregation of marginal gains’. That means complicated statements with tiny amounts of money on them that can still, over time, with enough tracks, add up to a significant income. Each track is like a little child, going out into the digital world, making its own way and eventually, hopefully, making its own living. That means that it makes total sense to push all potential listeners to platforms that pay royalties, which, at the moment, is mostly Spotify and Apple Music.
I have recently started properly engaging with a small but growing audience on Spotify, using playlists to do the same thing that my Melodica radio show does - making links between genres and collecting music that is really great. At the moment I have three playlists on there. The Balearic one is the most popular, and that feeds back into a new compilation series with the same name, which is available digitally (so there are marginal gains to be had there), and physically on CD and vinyl, with real sales and potential profits to be had.
Balearic is a distillation of all that I’m talking about - it’s streaming, and that streaming leads, I hope, to the purchase of beautifully packaged items containing a selection of timeless tunes. It’s also a great night out in a pub, the back room of a club, or at a festival, where you will hear a load of tunes from that Spotify Balearic playlist. More gains and a few free beers to be had there too. All that - digital, physical and experience - is a great way to live with my obsession with listening to and sharing music.
Chris Coco has been working as a DJ since the acid house explosion of the late eighties. He has since edited DJ magazine, worked for BBC Radio 1 on the after-hours show The Blue Room and made artist albums for Warp and Distinctive Records. His music has appeared on compilations including Cafe Del Mar and featured in TV shows suchs as Sex and the City, Nip Tuck and House among others.
chriscoco.com / balearicrecs.com
This comment featured in the latest issue of M magazine.
