Musicians Wanted Revolutionizing the Industry

Independent musicians are now receiving a lot more coverage, fans, and even money, all while in control of their image and sound.

Thanks to YouTube’s Musicians Wanted program, announced last week at the SXSW music festival, independent artists can now upload unsigned music videos and live musical performances onto the site. The U.S. based program is looking for all genres of original music video content that meet YouTube’s quality standards; bands need only to apply. The bands custom designed pages will include tour dates and “buy” links for music and merchandise. All the music videos will be available in their own searchable section on YouTube, allowing for fast and direct searches.

Additionally, the artists receive “a majority” of the advertising generated from pre-roll, text and overlay advertising on a monthly basis as part of Google’s YouTube Partner Program; a privilege previously limited to signed artists’ videos only. They can increase their revenue and fame further as the videos can also be embedded on external websites, including blogs like this one. Since the bands are unsigned, they also receive every cent paid out by YouTube, as opposed to giving a chunk of that money to their label.

This reflects the movement away from traditional media as well as the favouring of the independent artist.

In the 1980s, music videos on networks like MuchMusic and MTV dictated music trends, creating scenes and superstars for the public to follow. But both networks have since forgone their music focus and opted for more “genre shows”, like the beloved Jersey Shore; confirming this shift by dropping the “music television” tagline from their logo in February of this year.

But the music video form has not lost popularity, but has rather moved online where people can watch whatever videos they want on demand. Music videos are actually among the most viewed of online videos.

Now music videos no longer require the big budgets of big labels to get noticed. Although label videos are still getting ample play time, independent bands are now getting similar coverage for a fraction of the cost. Artists are taking their careers into their own hands, no longer forced to get noticed by and bend to labels. This viral culture privileges creativity and talent over the wealth and status of an artist.

This is an important shift as it is allowing musicians to be in control of their profits, popularity, image and sound. It reflects the independent culture where everyone now has the chance to showcase and profit off their talent without the creative constraints of a label. Best of all, it is allowing a wide variety of music to reach the mainstream instead of churning out similar acts based on a successful cookie-cutter mould.

So...

Do music videos still dictate the soundtrack of popular culture?

Are we living in an indie culture? Is this a good thing?

What does this mean for the big labels? What should their next marketing move be?

OK Go was the first band to sign with the Musicians Wanted program

(Sources from http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/sxsw-youtube-launches-partner-program-for-indie-bands/#ixzz0irAMQpzH, http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/mar/18/ok-go-viral-video-success, http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5in7skAOxgtgunzcRYsF48Hf27Hiw)