Country Time ... For A New Model
By: Matt Bjorke
Last updated January 8th , 2010

The record industry is changing, but don't buy into what many of those record labels are telling you.  Yes, they're having income problems as they struggle to show to their stockholders why their model of doing business is still worthy of investing in.  It is if they'd prove to these shareholders that the old model of signing an artist, getting a 10-15 track album (CD) to the market and reaping the rewards is gone.  The last 40-50 years were the album 'era' and now we've reverted to the 'hit parade' way of thinking as albums sales dwindle as single sales have risen.  It's a single's market, plain and simple and to try to continue in the old model will reap nothing but failure.  

How this relates to country music is simple.  While the genre still benefits greatly from a stable of fans who purchase physical albums over digital ones, it needs to be aware that the singles and EPs aren't going away and that fans are voting on who they like now more so than ever.  Artists like Craig Morgan are radio stars without hugely successful albums.  He's had one of his six albums sell over 500,000 copies and that album (My Kind of Livin') featured two huge hits ("That's What I Love About Sunday" and "Redneck Yacht Club").  The rest of his albums have struggled to meet the sales levels they should have met with his continued radio success.  The real reason artists like Craig aren't selling albums?  The fans that he appeals to - more than anything - are younger and of the 'iPod' generation and they're buying the singles they like when they come out.  

Another case to look at is how Lady Antebellum is selling albums.  They are now, but they didn't start really selling copies of their first album until the third single "I Run To You" touched most generations that listen to country (it won "Single of the Year" at 2009's CMA Awards ceremony).  This young band was now appealing to both Millennial's and Baby Boomers and the group and their record label started to reap the benefits.  What then, would happen when they released their new single "Need You Now" to radio? They also released a single digitally and it has given the band the rare distinction of topping both Amazon and iTunes' all-genre download charts, without ever being marketed to pop radio markets.  This marked the second time, after Jason Aldean, that a country artist achieved this milestone without crossover success.  Aldean even topped the ringtone charts, a place usually home to hip-hop and pop only.
  
What does this success from Lady Antebellum and Jason Aldean say for the country market?  The young fans will buy it when they're inspired to buy.  They like a song? They will buy it, not only in mp3 form but also in the form of a ringtone on their phone (if they can't figure out how to use an mp3 as the tone).  They will also likely still buy a full-length album when it comes out, digitally or at the nearest Wal-Mart or Best Buy because they already have faith in the artist they're getting has put out appeals to them and their hopes for a strong album are increased.  Why? Because the consumer can vote with their wallet earlier in the artist's career by not purchasing an album just because they liked one single but rather, like the Lady Antebellum case, wait for more successful singles to come out.  They may or may not like them but if they do, they can buy the whole album at this time because they are more convinced about what they're purchasing.  

That's the new model.  Release a couple of singles before releasing an album.  Give the fans the ability to choose what they like.  Along with this, if the singers are worth it, it will build loyalty to both the artist and the label.  There was a time when a label would have a reputation for the quality (or lack there of) of their artists.  When record companies stopped being about the music and more about how much money they could make, the fans stopped buying on reputation and somehow were duped into buying based on a single popular song wrapped up in a package that more often than not wasn't worth the money it cost to print the album. 
 
The new singles model brings the industry back into the buying on reputation model (or impulse purchases that are infinitely more affordable).  Country labels are starting to see this model's benefits and how long is it before artists are signed to single song or EP contracts rather than full-album deals?  It's the new (old) way of business and this is where the labels can start to regain successful enterprises, by focusing on the quality of a few songs instead of trying to cobble up an 'album' of stuff people don't always wanna listen to nor do the artists necessarily want to sing those songs (or even remember 'em).  

The revolution is happening and whether stockholders like it or not, the music business is changing. While the record business may be going out, the singles business is growing and that is good for the music business.  

[Tags] Country

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