Forward-thinking artist managers, agents, venues, indie labels and artists themselves are ones who have become (and truthfully have been for some time) responsible for building next generation of career-artists. Careers are not supposed to be events that have huge a build-up and then are over like The Super Bowl. As we all know, best careers (The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Neil Young, U2) are long journeys that have been built on solid and viable foundations that can (and do) sustain a wide array of paths and experiences. Each of these artists was able to build extremely solid and viable foundations without a major label and in most cases, had no mainstream radio airplay at all. What these artists (and their managers) do have in common (regardless of genre) was an entirely new way of thinking and approaching marketplace with regard to development of their careers.

They all utilized new and non-traditional methods that did not have luxury of an enormous marketing push behind it to create awareness. Most were lucky at start to get Public Radio exposure and critical acclaim.

But today, with so many more marketing and exposure options available to artists (iPods, Internet radio, websites, non-traditional retail), artists who develop and build careers for themselves won't necessarily be household names in first few years, but they will have a built a very solid base of fans that actually want their music and will attend their live performances. These artists will have built their followings over a long period of time, not through hype and over-exposure on MTV, VH-1 or other media outlets that in so many cases actually damage careers instead of enhancing them. More than ever, today's youth culture is looking for something real, something it can feel a genuine connection with, not something it's oversold on!

This is tragedy of major labels. They keep looking for formula that will give them huge multi-platinum sellers. Only problem is, we don't live in that world anymore! The system today doesn't allow these types of massive sellers like it did in past. Today, we have FAR too many choices. And that's their tragic flaw. Major labels do not see that harder and louder they continue to market their acts, more audience they're trying to reach doesn't seem to hear them or care.

Doubt me? Just ask any 13-18 year old today and they'll tell you. Or ask any 35-50 year old why they don't buy CDs anymore and they'll tell you "They don't put out any artists who I can connect with." Let's face it, Norah Jones' enormous breakthrough and continued success wasn't a fluke, but rather a very strong indicator that so-called "target demographic" (12-21 year olds) is completely out of touch with times we live in. And for record, Norah is another example of a recent career that was built entirely from this new paradigm of artist development - It is this particular phenomenon that I believe will alter type of artists, regardless of style, that will emerge and be able to build viable careers for themselves in coming years. Will these new Artist's careers look like what came before? Not a chance! This will be most difficult lesson for us as an industry to truly get. Letting go of what we've always held as definition of success (Out-of The Box Top-10 radio hits, videos in high rotation on MTV, VH-1, BET, product endorsements for anything and everything, appearing in TV commercials, transitioning into motion pictures all within first 12-18 months. Today, for those in know, these things are no longer seen as a path to career longevity. These are all things we have seen over and over during last 5 years that have hurt careers when they occur too quickly or without direction.

The new breed of artists and managers (and yes, there are a few who do think long-term) emerging today do not appear to see their clients' careers with this same unhealthy compulsion. They have a solid grasp of who and what they are and have been able to map out a career path that is consistent with that vision. This is what will contribute to building careers, rather than destroying them.

A recent development in Industry that we would be remiss in not mentioning is recent trend of "upstreaming". This is where an independent label develops an act from ground up, and at a certain sales level, act goes upstream to major label system. The catch is, of course, that smaller label will have to give up their acts to major if acts become successful. The great flaw in this scenario is that major labels have traditionally thought that any act doing 100-250K on an independent label should be able to do at least three times that within a major label system. As we've seen over last few years, 'it just ain't so!' Most acts do not go from 150K to 500K in course of one album. And there is nothing wrong with that. An act's evolution (both artistic & commercial) is an organic process and a long one. We don't expect our children to walk in their first six months, nor should we. Often, problem with major labels' expectations is unrealistic sales goals set for their acts simply because act is now in a 'major' system.

So often we've seen labels set their spending based on totally unrealistic sales expectations. All too frequently, a label declares that its sales goals have not been met and drops act. Is it any wonder that our industry has produced fewer and fewer career artists over last fifteen years? That is also why all of major label artist rosters have continued to get smaller and smaller.

The most fascinating aspect of this particular process today, is how many artists and bands truly WANT NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH MAJOR LABELS AT ALL! The illusion that a MAJOR LABEL CAN MAKE ALL OF THEIR DREAMS COME TRUE is over. So many artists today have seen too many acts during last 10 years break up, implode or simply get lost in a system that they truly had no business being a part of in first place.

If major labels are to survive in future, they are going to have to come out of denial about world in which we live and completely re-invent themselves. They are going to have to start seeing their business as it truly is today - not how they would "like it to be" or "how it was," but how it actually is. As Werner Erhart so brilliantly said, "The Truth will set you free, but first it will really piss you off!"