#recordindustry
Late last week I blogged about Nas and his now infamous letter to the brass at Def Jam in which he demands that they release his Lost Tapes Vol 2.  In the post I noted that despite suffering catastrophic financial blows and diminishing sales on the count of internet downloading, the music industry still conducts its business with a sense of entitlement and without any sense of urgency.

And since very few of them wake before noon and are out too late partying to read the New York Times they probably missed last week’s article, “Looking to a Sneaker for a Band’s Big Break.”  The article discusses how corporate brands have stepped in for the crumbling music industry and assumed the role of record labels.  In true “Great Grey Lady” fashion its a little long so I’ll digest the basics and if you’d like to read more you can do so here.

While the article focuses on mostly underground and emerging rock bands its premise extends across all genres especially hip hop.  Not so long ago artist held corporate America at arms distance in fear that any association with their products and services would constitute “selling out” and thus derail any credibility they had gained.  For a young, emerging artist this could mean almost certain career suicide.  For that reason brands like Pepsi and Reebok struggled to make headway with the youth generation resorting to   simple strategies like tour sponsorships and licensing songs for TV commercials.

Boy have times changed, perhaps 180.  Now it would seem such fears have all but vanished and artists are not only looking to corporate brands to validate their legitimacy as a viable act but also to fulfill the financial revenue stream once provided by powerful record labels including money for video shoots, marketing, even distribution. Red Bull and Mountain Dew have record labels with credible rosters. Levi’s, Converse, Dr. Martens, Scion, Nike and Bacardi have all sponsored music by emerging artists  and as the New York Times describes “they blitz the blogosphere with promotional budgets fatter than most labels could muster.”

In return, these brands feed off the tremendous followings emerging artists are now able to garner via the internet and gain cool points just by association.  Today the term “landing a deal” has nothing to do with a recording contract but rather solidifying a sponsorship.

The bottom line is the game has changed.  Music is clearly distributed differently.  Pro-Tools has made the computer literate a potential sound engineer and no longer is producing music a huge financial undertaking.  But perhaps the biggest difference is the fans.  Social networking enables the fans to discover new artists without ever leaving their doorstep.  No longer are pilgrimages to CBGB’s or the Lyricist Lounge necessary to catch that unsigned hype.  There right there on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.  The true players separate themselves by constantly feeding the minds of their new fans online and corporate America has recognized this and wisely willing to pay to play.