I’m giving away my new album (Bye Aunika) today! Get it before all the free downloads run out! —> http://joetran.bandcamp.com (Click on the yellow link that says ‘Free Download’)

So today as I was browsing the internet, I stumbled upon an article about Jack Johnson’s latest record. It only sold 250,000 copies in its first week. Now keep in mind that is still a lot, but nowhere near what it used to be. Other artists like Ke$ha only sold something like 24,000 copies?! Seriously, if this were the 90s, you would get dropped so fast from your label, you’d be making more working at Jack in the Box.

To really put this into perspective, when Lil Wayne’s The Carter III came out just a couple years ago, it sold I think around 1 million copies! (Doing the math on that, with est. $10 per unit, thats $10 million gross in only the first week!)

Anyways, why am I talking about this? Because reading all of this is extremely discouraging to aspiring musicians, artists and bands. As an unsigned musician myself, that has pushed the limits and created new limits, I want to inform you that music is STILL thriving. Believe it or not, more than ever! Good music is actually coming back believe it or not!

How is that possible if all these award winning artists and bands are only selling a quarter of what they used to sell before?

Its because, selling records is no longer the main source of revenue. These numbers aren’t showing you the whole truth about the industry. Believe it or not, one of the greater sources of revenue for bands/artists is merch! On top of ticket sales, licensing deals, ad revenue etc. 

Yes, record labels are struggling, but the music industry isn’t. Does that make sense?

One of the worst mistakes I’ve seen and still continue to see artist/bands do is WAIT for a label to recognize them! Time is our most precious asset and the more time you spend waiting, the more time you’ll never get back. Especially with all these record companies struggling, they’re more likely only going to sign someone that has already been signed and proved they can make a profit from previous contracts…

Although, I am not saying that if someone offers you a contract, don’t go for it. I’m just saying that you can do a lot of things yourself that record labels do for their artists and if you can prove that you are successful without a label, labels will more likely sign you.

So what does the future hold for musicians like myself and all of you that are looking to succeed in this industry? 

I believe the future of the music industry is going to be very similar to Darwinism. Only the fittest survive. (What the hell is that supposed to mean?) What I’m trying to say, is that, the best of the best in music, business, talent, timing, connections, equipment, funding etc are going to be the headliners of the industry…

From what it looks like, we’re moving from the information age to what I call the ‘option’ age. Look at all the apps you can get on your phone? Look at all the channels you have on TV. And most importantly, look at all the Mp3s you have on your iPod?

You have the option to listen to what you want to listen to, look into why you choose to listen to one song rather than the other one. That is YOUR key and spearhead into being successful in this industry. Statistics say that the first 4 seconds of a song determine whether someone will listen to the full song or skip it. I want to actually add on to that, the first 4 SECONDS will determine if this listener either becomes someone that knows of you or actually becomes a serious life long fan

Anyways, I’m going to stop it here…

Hope this stuff has helped anyone of you aspiring artists/musicians/bands. =] 

Oh yeah, and a lot of you on my FB are actively involved in music, what are your thoughts?