I’d rather pull out my eardrums with tweezers that listen to most 50 Cent tracks, but you gotta give him credit for staring technology in the face and not blinking. I guess he has an advantage over Doug Morris and the rest of his ilk in that he’s previously dealt with raining bullets.
Dodging the damage of MP3 downloads must be cake by comparison.
Check out this exchange from an interview by Pål Nordseth at a club in Oslo, Norway:
[...] “How are G-Unit Records doing in these times of file-sharing?
“Not so good.” he responded. “The advances in technology impacts everyone, and we all must adapt. Most of all hip-hop, a style of music dependent upon a youthful audience. This market consists of individuals embracing innovations faster than the fans of classical and jazz music.”
“What is important for the music industry to understand is that this really doesn’t hurt the artists.”
Thats quite a statement. Organizations like the RIAA are always talking about how the artists get hurt by file-sharing but 50 Cent clearly doesn’t agree. In fact, he appears to appreciate the value of a good fan, whether he buys or file-shares his music, as he explains:
“A young fan may be just as devout and dedicated no matter if he bought it or stole it.”
Indeed. It’s been said time and time again - get the music out there by any which way, fill the gigs and capitalize on the merchandising and ends will meet. 50 Cent agrees:
“The concerts are crowded and the industry must understand that they have to manage all the 360 degrees around an artist. They, (the industry), have to maximize their income from concerts and merchandise. It is the only way they can get their marketing money back.”
He finishes up: “The main problem is that the artists are not getting as much help developing as before file-sharing. They are now learning to peddle ringtones, not records” he said.
“They don’t understand the value of a perfect piece of art.” [...]
50 Cent is using marketing terminology like “360 degrees” to describe the value proposition surrounding an artist and the major labels can’t come up with anything better than suing their customers and boycotting iTunes.
Amazing.
UPDATE: Cayocosta, over at RecProAudio, has a different take on 50’s revelation:
Apparently not realizing that piracy-catalyzed 360 deals are actually recouped directly out of the artist’s pocket, he went on to offer the following when addressing the issue of lost recorded-music sales revenue, “The concerts are crowded and the industry must understand that they have to manage all the 360 degrees around an artist. They, (the industry), have to maximize their income from concerts and merchandise. It is the only way they can get their marketing money back.”
Further expounding on the negative effects of piracy, he offered, “The main problem is that the artists are not getting as much help developing as before file-sharing. They are now learning to peddle ringtones, not records. They don’t understand the value of a perfect piece of art.”
I could be off here, but 50 Cent’s perspective sounds steeped in the shoes of an artist / label executive, not in naivety.
With most major deals, all money put up by the label must be recouped prior to an artist getting a dime of profit from any revenue stream managed by the label. With fans that download music for free, it seems to me that 50 Cent is looking at the silver lining of the situation and chalking it up to a marketing expenditure — similar to producing music videos in the golden age of MTV.
Maybe instead of suing people for spreading the goodness of an act, labels should focus on the remaining opportunities to maximize their profits and stop trying to force their will on both a market and open technology? 360 deals don’t represent an ultimate answer, but neither does suing their fan base.
Wow.