So recently, Christopher wrote a long-little rant on the subject of downloading (etc.). I agreed with many of his points, and the spirit in which it was written. However, I’m not clear as to what solutions can be derived. Maintaining major record label business standards, for small organizations that don’t turn profits (industrial (etc.) labels) simply can’t work. I’m not sure I can (nor is it really my place) offer any concrete programmatic ideas, but I think I can lob a pass in the right direction. First I’d like to re-visit a few of the basic problems:

1) This is a small niche market. It seems somewhat doubtful that much of the music is meant (or will) appeal to a major listening audience. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be amused to no end if I could turn on the Top40 radio station and hear Winterklate… but even considering that prospect is utterly absurd. Other niche markets that I watch closely (academic publishing and martial arts instructionals) mainly work on charging absurd prices, because it’s assumed that sales are going to be extremely low but are guaranteed regardless of price. But while Death in June can get away with printing limited-to-100-pressing-super-expensive releases, this is not really a viable business strategy for industrial (etc.) record labels to follow. We can always make the speak-out-of-our-ass speculations on the scene dying or growing, but chances are it won’t get that much bigger or that much smaller. But until someone figures out a better way to indoctrinate listeners into the cult (it’s hard to use any other words), we’ll probably maintain equilibrium in numbers.

2) Over-saturation! You can’t stop people from making music (and there’s nothing wrong with that). Access to equipment and means to producing music are getting cheaper day-by-day, thanks to the digital revolution. All of it will eventually be released in some way, shape, or form — the tree can fall in a forest without anyone hearing it. This means a niche market is slowly being divided into smaller and smaller pieces.

3) Less free capital floating around to spend on leisure goods. This isn’t that complicated and maybe one of the rare cases where larger economic trends may have some baring on whatever the hell it is teh scene thinks it’s doing. Inflation – regardless of how you measure it – is going up. There’s currently a trend in the west to focus more on subsistence then leisure goods.

4) Who listens to cds? Don’t get me wrong, collectors have been the backbone of scene from the very beginning (we all knew that one guy that bought everything, and then dubbed or burned us copies). I know plenty of people, myself included, that still on occasions buy cds – they are quickly burned and placed on the shelf to gather dust.

5) Parasites! I use the words somewhat lovingly and ironically (we all know a Bowie fan sleep agent). I recall being at a warehouse party in New York a few years ago. I was having drinks with this guy that worked for a PR firm, which worked at trying to push major acts on what he called the “goth scene” and other alt niche markets. The guy might have been a schizophrenic or a liar, but regardless of the fact, it worked quite well. A small part of me dies every time I’m out at ‘da club’ and I hear Goldfrapp. When your industrial (etc.) night turns into an alt top 40 disco, it’s time to politely resign – your scene has been co-opted.

6) There is no capital and little to no infrastructure. The means of producing are always rented out as a service from someone else. While everyone in teh scenes from artists, to club nights, to promoters loose money, it gives out money left and right to everyone from cd printing presses to the alcohol vendors.

You can look to the above and keep ignoring them (there’s also a few tracts in economic thought that claim that intellectual property rights are inassimilable to market capitalism). But quite frankly, if you want to maintain the same level of operation, rely on advertising, and depend on markets to sell your product – you’re going to be shit out of luck fairly shortly.

Quite frankly, the only way to hope for survival and to not loose money is for closer association. We’ve all grown acustom to isolating ourselves, and calmly sitting in our own convenient private worlds. But we’ll probably need to start associating with those in and close to teh scene, on a much closer basis – it doesn’t mean you have to be friends or even like them, just be aware that if you want anything you’re going to have to co-operate. This isn’t just meant as an interpersonal statement. In the near future it might be helpful to look into co-ownership of club venues, cd vendors, hell maybe even microbrewing. But unless there’s some internal circulation of capital, this scene is simply unsustainable.