Mike Doughty on The Oatmeal’s Recent Music Industry Cartoon

In this cartoon, The Oatmeal portrays record label executives as rich fat cats who made huge profits serving as a gatekeeper between fans and musicians. Cutting them out of the picture would, in The Oatmeal’s fantasy world, result in higher payments to musicians and lower prices for fans. The reality is, as is often the case, a little more complicated.

It is true that record labels have long “exploited” artists in the sense that artists were forced to sign away the rights to their recordings (I say forced because there really wasn’t another way for a musician to become successful). But consider: they did this willingly and in exchange for cash to fund recording sessions and tours. The labels had the money to do this because they made lots of money selling the music of successful artists.

Singer-songwriter Mike Doughty provides real, concrete examples of how this is no longer the case. He thinks that, instead of being the apotheosis of artistic expression that some claim it to be, this new Age of Free Music will in fact result in fewer young, innovative artists because record labels no longer have the money to fund their development. Which, for most artists until the mid-2000s, consisted of recording an album and touring relentlessly behind it on the record label’s dime to cultivate an audience:

ARTISTS NEED TO TOUR TO DO THIS FOR A LIVING. Please believe me. There’s no other way. Ever noticed when a band does extremely well, then vanishes? Often it’s because they suddenly realize, “Oh, wait a minute—this profession means constant touring, not being in the studio? I think I’ll open an antiques store.” So many—so, so many—artists I know would drop touring in a heartbeat if there were another way.

Doughty argues that, today, labels use their far more limited resources to fund the Biebers and GaGas and can’t afford to invest in tomorrow’s Radioheads or Green Days.

Something to think about as you listen to music for “free” on Spotify or YouTube.