Jon Bon Jovi created a stir today by telling The Sunday Times Magazine, "I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: 'What happened?' Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business."
Sorry Jon, but you do sound like an old man. And not just an old man, but an old man that's had way too much money for too long.
Let me explain: Mr. Bon Jovi talks about this mythical time when buying music based on the jacket design was a good idea. Kids would save up all their nickels and dimes and run down to the local record store and buy a record because it had a something awesome on the cover.
In some fantasy land where you always end up buying De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising, Nirvana's Nevermind or LCD Soundsystem's Sounds of Silver, that would be great. But in reality, using Mr. Bon Jovi's method, I've purchased a lot of really horrible albums. I once bought a Me Phi Me album. You ever hear of Me Phi Me? Yeah, there's good reason for that.
I spent $15 on a CD that I hated the first, second, and third time I heard it. I eventually buried it to hide my shame. But the point is, buying music without knowing anything about it was my downfall far too many times than I want to share. If I were wealthy with a loaded six-string on my back, I could afford to buy all the music I wanted and give the bad music to the roadies for Christmas. Instead, after buying barrels of zit cream in high school, I could only afford a few CDs a month.
I also bought that Starship album in junior high. Why? Because it was the only tape available at the drug store in my small town. They may have built San Francisco on rock and roll, but Tehachapi was clearly built on family-owned markets without access to large music catalogs. If Gong's Drugs didn't have the album, I wasn't getting it.
It got marginally better when I was in high school. A record store opened in town. Thanks to friends with better musical taste than me, I was able to listen to albums before purchasing them. I could sample an album before plunking down 50% of my take home on CD. Unfortunately, because I was making better music choices, and unless I wanted to buy Def Leppard or Bon Jovi, I had to order a CD and wait two weeks for it to be delivered.
For some kids, this is still a reality. Without access to music on the internet, they would still end up having to order CDs through the mail, or purchasing whatever was available at the local stores. Sure, that's a lot of Lee Greenwood albums being sold, but some of us have the desire to listen to a wider range of music.
When I got a car, I would trek to Los Angeles to purchase Smiths B-side imports (yeah, I'm that guy) and find new bands via in-store listening stations and listening to KROQ. Until I was 20, I had no idea there were "Alternative" radio stations. And this, this is one of the things that Mr. Bon Jovi is correct about.
For me, buying an album was more than just a trip to a record store. It was a quest. I would drive for hours with my friends to find albums. We would talk the entire time about bands a friend of a friend had told one of us about. At the store we would walk the aisles for hours. I would take delight in finding CD imports with songs I didn't already own. On the 2:00AM trip home, the car would be filled with the sounds of our new acquisitions. It was incredible and I do miss those moments.
I've supplemented those moments with vinyl. Albums I absolutely adore are now purchased on vinyl and they get a good spin on my turntables. Hell, I'm buying some albums twice just so I have a digital and vinyl version. Some of my favorite bands are able to buy rhinestone encrusted juice glasses because I really need two versions of their albums.
When Napster appeared, I'll admit to downloading music from bands I had heard of, but never had the money to purchase. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't have a Misfits album until I was 25 and that the album was downloaded from Napster. (My apologies to Danzig, please don't beat me up.) I ended up buying the album after my hard drive full of Napster music failed--karma, I suppose.
But because I could sample music quickly, I was able to make better music buying decisions. I could weed out the music I didn't care for and -- once the iTunes Music Store launched -- support bands I respected without having to drive for hours.
Thanks to the social aspect of services like Rdio, I'm also able to once again engage in a conversation about music without saying a word. I follow people whose musical taste I respect and because of that, I'm expanding my musical horizons.
I'm sorry, Mr. Bon Jovi, that because of rampant file sharing that you no longer make as much as you once did on an album. It's incredibly unfair to all artists. While I'm not a fan of your music, I do believe that your music has value and that you should receive compensation for that value. You worked hard on Slippery When Wet -- it sold millions -- and every time a new generation discovers that album and downloads it, or buys it in the store, you should receive a giant check with your name on it, as well as a hair-band high five.
You're probably a little peeved that people are only buying the singles from your albums. For most albums, I buy the entire thing. But there are some bands that I like that have two to three good songs and the rest is filler. Why should I have to buy music I don't like? Yes, the album experience is supposed to be this magical thing filled with meaning and spirituality. But unless an artist can keep that momentum through an entire album, I'm not going to throw money at an entire album because some artists think I should.
But to blame the fall of the music industry on one man shows a level of ignorance that's usually only displayed by music executives. Whether Steve Jobs and Apple launched the iTunes Music Store or not, the MP3 is still available, and unless someone tamed it and created a viable business model around it, the music industry was going to collapse in on itself.
Yeah, maybe the iTunes Music Store and all the online stores and services that have come after it are killing the music business as we once knew it. But thanks to those services and online market places, I'm purchasing more music than ever before and the rest of the average consumers are able to find music that may have never even heard of before.
I can still turn my music up to ten, Jon, I can turn it up to ten and listen to it anywhere I want. If that's your definition of the death of the music business, then it is dead. Long live the New Music Business.
IHateSnow
March 21, 2011 at 10:36am
I no longer feel the need to use file sharing sites to get music because I don't feel I'm taking a chance on new bands, and songs I haven't yet heard on the radio. IMHO iTunes has made great strides towards saving the music industry, albeit a far different business model. Mr. Bon Jovi is being very short sighted and is completely out of touch with all the necessary and inevitable changes in the world due to technology.
Fabulous article.
Ray Aguilera
March 15, 2011 at 2:02pm
Just for that, I'm going to go home and rock out to my vinyl copy of Slippery When Wet, which I purchased at a record store for $1.00 (which, frankly, tells you all you need to know about what even Bon Jovi's best output is worth).
Of course, Jon Bon Jovi didn't see any of that buck, so I guess record stores are killing the music industry, too.
macbookpro220
March 15, 2011 at 12:37pm
Nice job Robbie. I enjoyed your article. I am just a teenager and never had those record store experiences but I agree with your pints. I am against pirating and buy all of my music legally on iTunes. I think Jon Bon-Jovi is on his own with this one....Or at least mostly. And to directly blame Steve Jobs is a little Far fetched.
lopezzi
March 15, 2011 at 8:17am
I think you mean Long's Drugs, not Gong's. And I totally agree with you. Also KROQ is the best radio station out there. I'm super excited to find they stream it on iTunes now, now that I no longer live in SoCal.
Roberto Baldwin
March 15, 2011 at 11:43am
No really, Gong's Drugs. It was a family owned drug store. The store went out of business once KMart came to town, but Mr Gong is a pharmacist at the KMart.
He's really a great guy.
-Robbie
chad1776
March 15, 2011 at 7:05am
I too bought the Me Phi Me album. Those were the days when you'd take a gamble and more times than not, lose. Because of the internet, and especially iTunes, I have found artists I absolutely love and making those mistakes rarely happens anymore.
Philodina
March 15, 2011 at 6:20am
I am an even older, more cranky guy than Jon and I completely disagree. Not only is Baldwin spot on historically but if anything, electronic distribution of music has made it FAR easier for songwriters and musicians to be heard. Maybe not to get rich, but to be heard and to attract an audience. Back in the "good old days" luck, family connections, playing for years in bars and small clubs that represented a very limited market and other means reflecting a limited market were the primary ways that artists were "discovered." Today, you may not be that good, you may not have staying power, but the entry costs to the music business are low and a wide audience can decide if they like you. There are even more recording companies than there were 40 years ago. The only real downside is the theft of intellectual property which is much easier than it used to be.
The new environment may not be conducive to people making "Jon Bon Jovi" money anymore but it also places the market closer to the consumer and improves the ability of new artists to be heard and judged on their merits.
Roberto Baldwin
March 15, 2011 at 11:41am
I was in a punk band in the early 90s and we couldn't even dream about getting signed and anyone hearing our music besides people that came to our shows.
Now I can record a demo at home with Garage Band, upload my songs to iTunes, shoot a video and place it on YouTube, and engage social media to promote a gig for a tiny fraction of what it cost to have CDs created back in the "good ol' days."
Like you said, most people will never get the "Slippery When Wet" money Bon Jovi enjoyed, but getting people to hear your music is all most artists want.
-Robbie
jgreer3000
March 15, 2011 at 4:21am
Excellent article. The music industry were ripping us off for years. Buying whole albums for 15 dollars and only having 2 good songs on there. The music industry wants to hold on to there old model instead of changing with the times.
Jamie
March 14, 2011 at 6:26pm
All I can say is I agree 110% (+1). Excellent piece. May we never got through the dark ages of the mainstream rock of the late 80s again. Well done indeed, Mr. Baldwin.
viscara
March 14, 2011 at 5:29pm
Agreed... Also I love indie music off all types giving back the power to the individual artist with "True" talent versus the spoon fed garbage of what the Record companies call "Musicians?" Let the people hear and buy music on their own judgement of what is good or not good not what is "SOLD" to us... The record industry can pucker up and kiss my royal American Independent A$(*$)#@!
mateozzz
March 14, 2011 at 5:06pm
I think he would be correct if he said that major labels might get killed, they don't add any value anyway, unless you count promoting 20 bands that sound just like the last one that was successful.
stevedion
March 14, 2011 at 4:37pm
Wow, title should read how Steve Job's saved the music industry. Before iTunes, i would download from Napster, Kazaa and other illegal places. I would get a bunch of low quality music, bad tags and worst of all viruses (i was a PC user back then, hehehehe). Then iTunes came along with affordable music and clean tags, good sound quality and great place to manage all that music. I spend much more money buying music then i ever did, and i am sure that most adults buy their music from online places legally. Teens and students are the ones who still currently download most music illegally and there is a good reason for that, they have no money, it all goes on school etc... I remember when i was a student i didn't buy much albums, i would buy one once in a while and share with other friends. How is that much different?
MacAddict4Life
March 14, 2011 at 4:22pm
Great article!
One correction: But the point is, buying music without knowing anything about it was my downfall far too many times than I want to share.
This should be "...far more tines than I wish to share."
Vren Lyet
March 14, 2011 at 3:46pm
Everything you wrote is absolutely right!
Again and again, I find myself purchasing music in iTunes that I'd never have bought anywhere else - let alone on such an antiquated form of digital media like the compact disc…
I myself have never ever been to a record store, and today, with iTunes everywhere on my Apple products and by that tons of music only a click/tap away, why should I now?But I don't think anything has been "killed" - consuming music is just different today than it was some 20 or 30 years ago - but then again, really, what hasn't changed since then?
Avenged110
March 14, 2011 at 3:22pm
great article. If iTunes had never come along, I wouldn't have even know about most of the artists I love today.
macbookpro220
March 15, 2011 at 12:38pm
You are absolutely right. The radio stations in my area are awful. Pandora is great!
treswrld
March 14, 2011 at 3:15pm
Let's be honest, Jon. Record execs and RIAA killed the music industry as you knew it. They were too busy trying to kill the technology with lawsuits instead of embracing it like the crew in Cupertino. Funny how there are plenty of artists who are making a decent living in this digital music age. Personally, I don't miss paying for a whole album only to get a few good songs. Nostalgia is one thing - ignorance is another beast altogether. No sympathy for Mr. Bon Jovi from me.
