MusicRadar

Donald Passman says you can still make money in the music business - if you know the facts

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"It can feel like the Wild West. We're in the midst of a major transition of the business, which is going to have to reinvent itself if it's going to survive."

Are you hopeful that the business can do just that?

"Yes, I am. Very. There's the ability in the future to get music to people who might never go into a record store and to monetize it. People mostly stop buying music in their early 20s, and yet, here we have the ability to get music to consumers who might not normally hear it or see that it's available. Even if the amount per transaction is much smaller, if we multiply it by the people taking part, the business can grow and become bigger than it ever was. I'm very hopeful."

How has your role as a music attorney changed over the past ten years?

"Things have changed radically. Everything has gotten much more difficult. Companies have become distressed, and distressed people don't always make the most reasoned, dispassionate decisions. If you're the pilot of a plane and you're cruising along at 40,000 feet and the weather is calm, you're going to act a lot differently than if the plane is nose-diving and plummeting towards the ocean.

"Budgets are tighter; bands aren't given the same amount of time to grow as they used to; and on top of it all, the deals are smaller. It's just tougher all the way around."

"People at record companies are worried about losing their jobs, and the CEOs of those companies are worried about going out of business entirely. Budgets are tighter; bands aren't given the same amount of time to grow as they used to; and on top of it all, the deals are smaller. It's just tougher all the way around.

"My role hasn't changed as much as you might think - the artists are still doing what they were doing before. The only thing that's changed is that I've had to learn exactly what's happening in these new technologies in order to advise artists properly about it all. The landscape has changed; I haven't." [laughs]

Back in the '80s and most of the '90s, there was a set pattern to getting a record deal: A band formed in a basement, they played gigs, toured in a van, they put out an indie single or two, and before you knew it there was a swarm of A&R people flying to Lexington, Kentucky or wherever to try sign them to a million-dollar deal.

"It doesn't work that way anymore. The good news is, it's now very easy to get your music out to the public. The bad news is, it's very easy to get your music out to the public. [laughs] That's why there's five million bands on MySpace.

"Therefore, how do you break through all the noise and build a base and a buzz? Interestingly, a lot of these bands are doing it better than the record companies. They collect e-mails and keep in touch with fans, let them know about what they're doing, when they're appearing in their town, and in some cases they're able to move their careers forward all by themselves."

When you come in contact with a band that's built up a buzz on MySpace, what kind of advice do you give them? How do you help them move to that next level?

"It all depends on what they want and what kind of band they are. If they're a mainstream band and want to break through internationally, they're still going to need a record company behind them. I'm sure a band will come along that does it without a major label, but it hasn't happened yet."

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