As I’ve been researching and thinking on the subject of what making music and sharing it with others actually means these days, I was thinking how we are all advertising driven. This website is ad driven, how ever little driving is actually done. Nonetheless, advertising powers the art. So many people are able and striving to “sell” their music, but what does that actually mean in this world we are forging?

In the past music has been a product with many different business models, there was the concert, the tour, the cd, the publishing, the t-shirts. Then came the clothing lines, the sneakers, the branded guitars, and everything else. People are talking about the death of the cd track, and I kind of agree. Music, as a product, Continue Reading

I am fascinated with the fashion business model. In researching and thinking about the new ways that the music business, or independent music business can thrive. I’ve been trying to compare and contrast other business models. Ones where the products are generally the same, but differ enough to garner fierce brand loyalty and continued support. After a shopping trip with my girlfriend at Bloomingdale’s, looking at prices and designs of the dresses she wanted me to buy, I have become interested in the fashion business. Not to do it myself or anything but I appreciate it as an interesting business model as it is similar to the music business model (which is under repair currently).

Fashion is as a shortcut to self expression. In that way, fashion and music are alike, Continue Reading

Another touring band signs on with a concert promotor. To me, this is just confirmation that the valuable thing in music now is only the live music experience, and the recording is the “free promotional” item that goes along with it. Makes sense. It kind of brings the whole thing back to a time when there were no “recordings” or no recording technology as of yet. The live experience was the only valuable commodity at one point in music business history. Maybe we are going back to those times?

Nickelback signs with Live Nation……. Continue Reading

Music and musicians were a more rarefied group, or so it seemed to me. Not only did one have to practice on their own while everyone else was out playing, but it also required a certain expertise with esoteric information in order to learn and get better. It all felt like we were reinventing the wheel each time as we tried to figure out how come we didn’t sound as good as professionals on records. I still am trying to figure that out! But the production of the art, and the audience at gigs that consumed the art were able to share something cool in the same room. And that magical “live” feeling in a room where this is going on is important, and I believe it is the core of what has kept musicians in the game while the music business continues to crumble all around. Continue Reading

I’ll start my first BrokeDownVan.com blog with this statement that I think most readers would agree with: Musicians are fucked.

OK, maybe I should qualify that a little. Up until recently at least, all but a random few musicians were totally fucked. These days, musicians are for the most part still fucked but with a small glimmer of hope. A hope nicknamed the Internet.

A good number of musicians are surviving by using tools already available on the web, from MySpace to iTunes to Rhapsody to homegrown websites. This site intends to help share that information through blogs, website reviews, resource guides and more.

We often ask ourselves, Of what use is today’s music industry? Continue Reading

I’ve been thinking a lot about the way that the craft of music has been done in the past and the way that it is going to be done in the future. With every technological push forward, independent artists and musicians seem to find it harder to make money creating their art. There is a lot of good that comes from the distribution of songs and music more accessible through the Internet, but there is something lost in the process. As the means of producing music becomes cheaper and cheaper, the ways in which audiences consume music is also changing, making it difficult to pursue the craft of music. Will new media kill and old art? Continue Reading