With the ever-evolving music industry, it’s grown more difficult for many bands and performers to be able to continue to afford to make music.
I’ve heard about more than a couple instances where a band or artist has had to discontinue touring because ticket sales and/or album sales are lower than ever. In many cases, I realize it could be the shifting trends or our own personal economic statuses making it difficult to afford to buy tickets, but it could also just be the aging fanbase has lost interest in music altogether and does not continue to support these artists’ endeavors.
I’ve gone to some shows in recent months where, upon posting a photo from the show online on some form of social media, I’ve received comments like “Oh, I didn’t know they were still around!” or “Where do you get your concert information from?”
In this day in age, if you’re a music enthusiast, there’s no excuse to not keep tabs on your favorite artists. Between artist email lists (You should sign up for your favorite artist’s email list if they have one!), phone apps and services like Bands In Town, and Facebook, there’s just no reason not to know about shows coming to your neck of the woods. iTickets.com even sends out alerts if you sign up for them.
But there’s another concern. I posed a question – just to start a discussion – on the JFH Facebook to see what others thought about the hypothetical idea of: “If you knew that buying your favorite artist’s music would help them keep touring, or NOT buying it would mean they’d stop touring, would you buy it then?” The truth is, most artists’ careers (not ALL, but MOST) involve or are centered around touring and performing live. The real money in sustaining a musician’s career, is in touring and drawing crowds. The expenses for that are super high, but with the right venues, crowds and ticket/merch sales, it should help keep an artist’s career alive. (Some still go out on tours and barely break even, sadly).
The truth is: album sales don’t generate much income for artists. Over the years, most artists GO INTO DEBT with a record label to fund the recording of an album. And when an album sells, unless the artist funded it completely themselves, they see very little of the profits of the album sale. This isn’t to discourage you from buying music — by all means, it’s super important to do that — but you can’t assume that just buying one $10 or $15 album from someone is going to keep them going for a long time.
If we, the fans don’t support the artist financially, they can’t afford to continue to exist. Period.
Some comments on the Facebook post were actually completely against seeing live shows, while others didn’t care if buying an album ensured the band could keep touring or not.
The fact of the matter is, in many cases, the two go hand in hand. If a band can’t continue to tour, they probably won’t bother sticking together to make music together. There’s no reason to. They’ll need to get “real jobs” and that will take up most of their music-making time. Plus, most labels only want to sign artists who can tour. Touring keeps the artist in the spotlight, at the forefront of people’s minds. It enables fans to get involved instead of just listening to their single on the radio (and not buying their album, especially). After all, some people are more likely to shell out $16 bucks for a 3D movie in the theaters than to go see a band they like perform in person. And, if you’re a sincere music fan who thrives on the ministry and what great music can do for the soul, there’s something backwards about that.
In any case, we’d love for you to join the discussion! It’s just a friendly discussion, so join in!
Visit the Facebook post here: https://www.facebook.com/jesusfreakhideout/posts/10152812838274603
— John DiBiase