Music producer Steve Albini explains the record business

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Music producer Steve Albini explains the record business

By Martin English | January 22, 2008

The Problem With Music is a famous rant about the economics of the music industry that Steve Albini (most widely known for having produced Nirvana’s “In Utero.”) wrote years ago. While it shows its age, there’s still plenty to learn, especially the accounting methods that show how a band that sells 250k records can still end up broke.

The band is now 1/4 of the way through its contract, has made the music industry more than 3 million dollars richer, but is in the hole $14,000 on royalties. The band members have each earned about 1/3 as much as they would working at a 7-11, but they got to ride in a tour bus for a month. The next album will be about the same, except that the record company will insist they spend more time and money on it. Since the previous one never “recouped,” the band will have no leverage, and will oblige. The next tour will be about the same, except the merchandising advance will have already been paid, and the band, strangely enough, won’t have earned any royalties from their T-shirts yet. Maybe the T-shirt guys have figured out how to count money like record company guys. Some of your friends are probably already this fucked.

The lesson here is for anyone who’s looking to be “discovered” (whether via American / Australian Idol or by a Venture Capitalist is beware of the the fine print.

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