We now live in a music microculture. How can you measure success now?
[This was my weekly column for GlobalNews.ca. – AC]
In the days before the internet, music was a scarce and regulated commodity. Yet the current landscape tells a different tale. With so much music to go around, the dynamics of the industry have changed what was once a “macroculture” into a “microculture.”
To show you what I mean, let’s journey back to the music world of the past.
Record labels would only sign acts that they believed had a chance at being commercially successful or if they had a champion somewhere in the office and were deemed culturally significant. Releases were meted out in measured amounts, usually several thousand albums a year. These were then further filtered by radio stations, music magazines, and record stores. The public got to choose from what was left.
We had fewer choices to make. Even the biggest record stores stocked perhaps 100,000 titles, which included all eras and all genres of music. This made it easier to decide which acts to support in terms of music sales, time spent listening, and the purchasing of concert tickets.
Consensus ruled the day. Millions of people were on the same page when it came to determining which acts were “good” and deserving of our time and money. Those artists became huge and dominated the music world for as long as the public deemed them interesting and worthy.
The music charts were different, too.
