Has Tech Killed Your Chance for a Recording Career?

We’re all in the same boat here and for the most part facing the same sorts of problems, which is extremely disheartening because that boat is quickly sinking if not already sunk. But that’s the cost/risk of us working in what is ultimately a non-essential and monetarily shrinking industry. That isn’t to say my life would be half as rich, or even all the enjoyable at all, without listening to and creating music, but we’re not exactly providing sustenance, shelter, or healthcare. And in lean times such as the world is now facing, we’re some of the first on the chopping block.

As a studio owner operating in the United States in 2020 these are the main issues causing this problem, some directly observed (I do my own books and assist some colleagues with theirs), and some inferred, that I can identify:

1. Lack of affordable healthcare— This isn’t solely relegated to our industry, but is eating more Americans alive than perhaps anything else. This has always been the case for creatives in particular, but things have reached a fever-pitch. It’s hard enough as the owner of a small business to keep up with my own health care costs, and I truly don’t envy those who have to do the same for employees.

2. An out of control commercial real estate bubble— I’m one of the lucky ones that whoopsed into a space I own, but so many of my colleagues are having their lunch eaten by exorbitant rent prices. With covid, amongst other factors, there are more vacant commercial properties than ever, and yet prices don’t seem to be budging anytime soon because the land owners themselves have leveraged so much that they essentially must charge these prices to keep up with their own mortgage obligations. This is particularly true in more heavily-populated urban areas.

3. The economy in general— this is perhaps the biggest, and least surmountable issue. In particular, young people (18-35, and the below 18 crowd) are in an incredibly precarious and untenable situation, and unfortunately for us, those same young people historically account for the majority of revenue that our industry takes in. Less money for the artists means less money for the audio engineers, and so on.

4. Lack of demand— some may, as in the article, chalk this up to democratization of production means, but I think more accurately this is simply due to shifting, evolving tastes toward music styles that have different production requirements than past popular styles. Film scores, anachronistic big band and brass band music (of which, luckily, there is still quite a lot here in New Orleans), non-chamber or soloist classical musics, and proper drum productions will never be able to be recorded in someone’s garage or living room, but these things are largely not in vogue and do not account for the majority of recorded musics, even in my relatively unique market.

5. Inequitable distribution of revenue — this may be the other big one. The money is out there; I have friends who started streaming companies when such a thing was in its infancy, and they are doing undeniably well. Records may not sell as well as they once did, and live music may be sorely hurting, but these people are taking in boat loads of cash via subscriptions and advertisements. All of which is of course built upon the backs of the hard-working and (sometimes literally) starving artist.


These issues are nearly universally affecting all studio owners, audio engineers, musicians, and their support, and I’d argue are the main causes of the dire lack of opportunity with which we are now faced. Of course, I have a few significantly older friends and mentors that are still making a killing doing big budget, major label productions not unlike back in the day, but they established their careers and won their Grammies and whatnot before I was even born, and these people are in the extreme minority these days.

Not exactly, I think. When I was young the biz was run primarily by MUSIC PEOPLE. Maybe they didn't play or engineer, but they LOVED MUSIC. Those people are mostly gone. Also many companies were run and owned by one or two people. These days most are owned by larger corporations and run by people who are interested in primarily money. Music - not so much.

Thanks for sharing this John. It gives the reader a lot to think about. I had a sit down talk with myself in 2005 and tried to talk myself out of making any sort of devotion to music. Something inside just told me the industry would be in ruins and continue to pump out stuff that’s not my style until around the 2030’s to 2040’s. So my long term plan has been slowly get the tape machines, experience, and gear list going because in about 15 years I’ll be ready.

In the mean time, well I learned in 2010 I’d rather record demos than work warehouses. And what about the home recordist? They need as much help as they can get, so there was some usefulness there, and gave me a ton of experience. Now the top guys are filling that need for the home user with video subscriptions, as they too don’t want to work in warehouses. Apple is promoting their own software Logic as the one stop shop to fame and fortune. So it seems to be getting more and more bigger hands reaching for the last bits of fruit. What’s the end goal? Probably just use the phone mic and it samples your voice tone... then you sing and it auto tunes it all, totally synthetic voice but it sounds like 14 layers. After that, the whole music production will be 100% faked, totally disposable and a million times overdone.

The next chapter will be a return to human elements. Less fakeness, more reality. And we know that reality can sound terrible! Or it can sound magical.. and the gear REALLY matters when you need ugly reality to sound a little better. That’s my hope, the realism will make a strong comeback in the next 20 years. I always strive to keep as much imperfection as I can. It’s tough because I know it turns people off. I still like to hear Hendrix early stuff, and honestly it sounds brutally honest like a home recording at times. Anyway.. thats kind of the place I look towards.

I'd posit the step after AI is the end of humanity.