Columbia Records' Rick Rubin: Clueless on Grabbing Listeners By the Wallet

The title of Sunday's New York Times Magazine cover story was "Can Rick Rubin Save The Music Business?" The answer, apparently, is No, although Columbia Records, of which Rubin is now the co-head, would like to believe otherwise. Rubin, as well as David Geffen and Columbia exec Mark DiDia, who are also quoted in the article, have a great sense of what's wrong with the music biz, but not a lot of great ideas about how to fix it.

Rubin has made a career out of selling records by artists who don't normally sell records. In the '80s, he helped put hip-hop on the white suburban map with the Beastie Boys' zillion-selling debut album. In the '90s, he turned the Red Hot Chili Peppers into superstars by encouraging them to branch out from their funk-rap roots into pop fare like the ballad "Under The Bridge." He took the moribund recording careers of Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond and almost singlehandedly revived them by having them make records that appealed to a new, different -- and younger -- audience.

But almost all of those records were made in an era when people who listened to music also bought music. Today, when that audience is just as likely to get its music for free, either by home CD burning or illegal downloading, Rubin's as clueless as any other music exec about how to grab people by the wallet as well as the ears.

In the article, Rubin claims the way to save the business is the oft-touted subscription model, in which customers would pay for access to a downloadable library of music. Eventually, this probably will be the dominant mode for acquiring music. But it's a solution for years if not decades from now.

The immediate concern should be to slow the erosion of CD sales -- a proven cash cow -- as much as possible, while at the same time getting the major record labels to sit down and figure out exactly what's needed to make an online subscription service work. How to get the majors to even talk to each other, let alone agree on anything? Rubin doesn't have any better idea than I do.

Rubin's most boneheaded plan is to create Columbia's "word of mouth" department. According to a Columbia-sponsored focus group, word-of-mouth is how most tweens and teens find out about new music. No surprise there, considering that with the demise of radio and the music press, and MTV's evolution from a music channel to a lifestyle channel, there aren't many other outlets left.

But Rubin thinks word-of-mouth can be artificially created by a multinational conglomerate. The whole point of it is that it's NOT manipulated by the powers that be -- it's free of the bogus hype that labels like Columbia are known for. That's why marketing-savvy (and viral marketing-savvy) kids believe it. Co-opt its integrity, and you lose the appeal as well, not to mention the audience.

In the end, though, Rick Rubin is right about one ingredient that's necessary for the music business to survive, and one that he's proven to know a thing or two about. In the words of David Geffen, "... the top priority at any record company has to be coming up with great music. And for that reason, Sony was very smart to hire Rick." Now it's just a matter of figuring out how to sell that music. Maybe Sony still has Clive Davis' number handy?

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Comments

[faust2001]

We are an artless society. Everything is for sale, from war to religion to sex to marriage to . . . well, everything. The success of the "download" era is the culmination of the commodification of music. Music is now a lifestyle accessory, and nothing more. Just keep telling people what they like, and they'll abide. As in politics, as in religion, etc. etc.

[InofTouch]

I'm quessing were going back to the 50's and 60's where it all about the single, not the album...We­lcome To Time Life.

[tao53nyc]

Jaysus H God, how about the fracking industry just PUT OUT SOME MATERIAL WORTH BUYING?

This whole "download thing" got started because the web-savvy kids out there got sick and tired of paying $20 for a 40-cent piece of plastic with 17 tracks - only two of which were actually worth listening to.

Artists used to make ALBUMS - an entire, flowing statement of musical artistry in 10-12 tracks on a piece of 12-in vinyl. Today, "artists" only want to make "hits" - the rest is filler on the CD. The labels apparently encourage this. That attitude is costing them. I haven't bought a CD since 2002.

The tech infrastructure today has obviated the need for gatekeepers and middlemen with a chokehold on physical distribution channels. Digital distribution channels don't essentially require a gatekeeper (iTunes is a hybrid model, that itself may have to give way when artists opt to roll their own online stores).

A few bands are beginning to embrace this model and avoid the labels. I predict many more will follow suit within a few years, as the contracts time out.

But the labels might save themselves short term by at least encouraging their bands under contract to actually work for a living.

[progressivegreg]

The music business is soooo different than it was in it's heyday of the 40s-70's. In the old days you needed recording studios (expensive) pressing plants (very expensive) and marketing (mega expensive). Today, here in Grand Rapids, Mi. (a medium sized city, metro 500,000) we have at least 5 or 6 really good recording studios (mostly jingles for commercials but a lot of bands use them) the costs are reasonable, the up and coming bands can order as many cd's printed (?) as they want (reasonable) or they can send a track or two right to the internet to entice their fans. Music doesn't need the gate keepers anymore and if anything, the gate keepers are hindering the music. Get away from the bottom line and viola creativity returns. I'm sure the above scenario is playing out in virtually every city around the world today.

[Shake-A-Spear]

Buncha old guys sittin' around a big conference table up there in LA or NooYawk. "Let's pay some kids coast to coast to start talkin' up stuff. Why not start a national Word of Mouth Department­."
"Brilliant Manny! LET'S DO IT."
And so another dumb idea is born. The guys go out to lunch and think they've done a helluva day's work. A year later: "Hey Manny, it ain't woikin'. Got another idea."
You've just glimpsed a porttait of today's music biz as we know it.

[mckinley]

I subscribe to Rhapsody -- right now at work listening to a Brit-pop "playlist" -- and I spend almost all my home leisure time at or near my computer..­.

I have instant, totally controlled access to just about any artist, any song, I can think of, for less than the price of a CD, $12.99 a month.

The music industry has made a Faustian bargain.

[shaggles]

I tried Rhapsody and I couldn't find anything I wanted to listen to.

[Nommo]

The same people who destroy the biz are now going to save it? When ever has that worked? Having built itself into a small empire, when the world around it had changed, the biz found itself trying to figure out what had happened, where all he people had gone.
The prices of cds never kept pace with reality or quality. People had to find alternatives. The obvious was easy enough, but the biz missed it.
It is still missing.

[Sumocat]

I admit to being biased towards Rick Rubin since he is the godfather of rap-metal fusion, but I think he is right to not worry about CDs and look forward to the future. The decline of CD sales is unstoppable. The CD hit its peak when players were cheap and older fans were happy to switch to the new format, resulting in a swell in catalog sales. Now, players are at their cheapest and older fans have filled out their collections. It can't peak again.

[jhNY]

You can't polish a turd. By continually and aggressively promoting the basest and vilest impulses amongst its listeners and artists, the music business now has a product and a consumer who deserve each other. Worthless music stolen by guiltless thieves.

[buddycor]

One of the all time greatest posts I have ever read. WELL SAID!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!

[rektruax]

He certainly did nail it.

[hiprogloho]

Rick Rubin made his fortune by promoting ebony music. Unfortunately, the genre has degraded with rap and hip hop and is not what it was in the ear candy eras of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

What powers that be must realize is that for the music biz to mature and evolve it has to go beyond copying what the black man is up to so that it more grow in diversity and scope.

[dexxjones]

i hate to admit it, but i am addicted to itunes. so long as they arent forced to soak the consumer (as nbc would have them do) itunes is the future. i would never buy a subscription.

the execs prefer a subscription because it would lead to less choice. if the songs/albums have to either be bought or ignored, they are less likely to force crappy music onto their customers.

[TheQuestion]

The music business killed music. Let the music happen - real music - real creativity - not this cookie cutter crap - and real people will be more inclined to buy it.

It used to be that when you bought an album every song on it would be good. Now you're lucky to find one or two good songs.

And just for the record "Rap-Music" is an oxymoron.