How To Fix The Music Business

I've actually discussed this with artists. I think the key to fixing the music business is to give you less and charge you less. I have some real practical ideas and once you read them, I think you'll agree my plan(s) make sense.

What's the number one complain among music buyers? The one I hear most often is "not enough good songs on the album".  The problem is, that the band, producer, record company and everyone involved put a bunch of effort into two or three songs and let the bands fill out the rest with what I would like to call "artistic statements", and/or filler.

I truly believe the future is e.p.s, releases of 3-5 songs.  Here's my thinking. The band makes those great 2-3 songs and puts another "long-shot" song or two to flesh out the release. This way you and the band are not paying the cost in time or money to record another eight songs to make a traditional album. Think about this too.  When your favorite bands play live, how many of the songs from their latest release make it into their live show? The answer is 2-3. So, the band and the songs that band released can truly get the attention they need if they are part of a smaller, shorter release. Plus, you could easily sell e.p.s for about $5. I believe that price to be such a value that a lot of fans would go ahead and pony it up instead of just bootlegging the songs.

Things were actually done this way by some bands you may have heard of in the old days. The Beatles and Stones both released e.p.s and singles, they then took the best of those singles and made albums of them.

If I managed a band, this would be my plan.  Record an  e.p., tour the band for six months, record another e.p, tour the band for six months, record a third e.p, tour the band for six months. Take a little break, put out an "album" with the biggest songs from the first three e.p.s, or even a complete collection and tour some more. It gives the band plenty of time to expose, perform and even write new material. It gives fans a low cost of getting into the band and new songs and new tours to get excited about on a regular basis.

So do we "lose" something in this process? What about those eight filler songs on a an album that could have been "dark horse hits" for the band? Nope, they can just go on a different e.p.  Attention spans, budgets and realities of touring aren't what they once were. It's time to change the model for the record industry and I think the e.p. is it.