So You Want to Save the Music Industry

Try turning on your radio. Any commercial station will do, really.

Hear it now?

That's the sound of the inexorable march of shitty bands. No, it's not going to stop anytime soon. The Hot Topics of the world teem with preteens donning hoodies and girl pants (held up by anywhere from two to eleven belts, studded or spiked). The RIAA is suing kindly grandmothers and corpses alike for the unthinkable crime of downloading music, an offense clearly on par with some forms of manslaughter. Clear Channel is slowly but surely gobbling up any radio station and concert venue within convenient reach of its maw. Call me a doomsday prophet if you will, but unless a great mass of the listening public rises up against this procession of crap, we'll be cursed to a future of (shudder) My Chemical Romance, Toby Keith, and Britney Spears.

To those of you whose favorite bands I have not insulted in the last sentence, here's a simple yet effective guide to doing your part in saving music you love, written by a dubiously-qualified music critic and radio industry drone.

1. Buy Local, Buy Independent

This is as true for farmers' markets as it is for the music industry. Don't buy your music at Wal-Mart. Even if they do manage to have the album you're looking for, the economic machinations behind suppliers, retailers, and record companies ensures that your favorite bands are receiving a pittance, if anything at all. Most bands won't even have a royalty pay structure in their contracts, and no amount of sales will give them a cent. Independent record stores, besides quite often being significantly cheaper than retail outlets, cut better deals with distributors and labels, resulting in more profit for the bands. More profits for the bands means they can devote more time to making music, and less time spent on that bartending job to pay the bills. As an added warning, beware of stores like Best Buy that undersell independent records - while the retailer is taking the loss when they sell new albums for $6.99, they're establishing an environment where independent record stores are being pushed out by the larger guys. If you want to keep your friendly neighborhood snark shop, don't buy your records from Circuit City.

2. Attend Concerts

Small touring bands, when they can afford to take an extended tour, depend largely on the income derived from their concerts, especially merhcandise sales. While a fraction of your ticket may go to Ticketmaster, in any case the best way to ensure that your precious legal tender is going directly to the band of your choice is to buy a T-shirt at their show. Besides, who wouldn't want to see their favorite band live? To those of you living in smaller communities, this doesn't ring as true as it might in big cities - but every town has a cadre of hard-working local bands. Merchandise bought at the show has the highest profit margin for the band out of any other selling method. If you can wait until the band comes to town to buy their album, do so. As an added bonus, you'll get to schmooze with the members, and Best Buy tends to frown on bringing an open beer to the music section.

3. Support Public and College Radio

College radio is the haven of novelty. Commercial radio largely sells nostalgia, attempting to snag the listener into sitting through four more minutes of advertisements on the off-chance that they might hear their favorite song fifteen minutes later. The number of commercial stations using an independent format can be honestly counted on the fingers of one hand. Even if that hand belongs to a three-toed sloth. Sitting here in the studio of my corporate radio job, this rings truer than you'll ever manage to know outside of actually working in corporate radio. Stations like KEXP in Seattle, the Current in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and KCRW in Los Angeles are great outlets for discovering new bands, as well as your local college radio. If you don't live anywhere near these stations, well, there's always the internet. And if you don't know how to use that, you're not reading this.

4. Digitalism - Idealism

Even if you're ethically opposed to the downloading of albums, would you buy a car without first taking it for a test drive? Of course not (Let that be a lesson to prospective car-buyers, as well - TEST DRIVE IT FIRST). Every time you buy a record you're ashamed of in your collection, you're sending a message to that band (and the heads of the label) that it's okay to keep making that music. You may not be able to find the whole album to listen to, but many bands offer streams of their records or at least multiple clips. DO NOT GO TO THE APPLE STORE. While few outlets are as all-encompassing or as convenient, downloading only the hit singles is killing the album format. If you're an unapologetic popist, by all means, kill the album. But at least be aware of what you're doing. Remember this simple rule: buy whole albums that you've heard in their entirety (or, as close as you can come).

5. Defy "Radio-Friendly"

This one's more of a personal prerogative than anything else. The more you listen to safe, narrow radio hits, the more they will be perpetuated. The music industry, as a whole, is playing a game of catchup with digital media. Every trend that's died six months ago online will be given a cursory triage effort by the major labels in an attempt to cash in. Of course, the effort will necessarily be "cleaned up" for popular radio, lest they alienate advertisers and audiences alike with dangerous, new music. Well, fuck that. Broaden your perspective. Listen to a band you've never heard before every day. More, if possible.

Well. Now that I've established myself as a defiant, deranged demagogue, I'll implore you one last time - don't give in to the bullshit that plagues the industry. It can be slogged through. A greater variety of music is available now than ever has been before, and many of these struggling bands deserve your admiration and support. Plus, without a burgeoning independent music industry, I'd be out of a job.

So if nothing else, support me.