Can Rick Rubin save the music industry? The New York Times Magazine addressed that very question this past weekend in a pretty insightful piece by Lynn Hirchberg, one of the better entertainment journalists working today. The basic gist is that Columbia Records is taking major steps towards figuring out how a major record label can survive in an age where no one buys records anymore, from putting Rubin in charge on his own agenda to hiring a bunch of college kids, paying them to “intern” all summer, and then milking them for information on music consumerism through an end-of-internship focus group. What did they learn? No one listens to radio, check. No one buys CDs, check. Myspace has become obsolete, check. Downloading music online without paying for it isn’t often viewed as “stealing,”  - check. The industry hasn’t changed with the rest of communication and sociological norms, but Columbia is making that effort…so is it a progressive investment or is it too little, too late?

I’m of the belief that if there’s a will, there a way. Columbia may be the first major label to relinquish creative control to that rogue, unpredictable and often uncontrollable wild card - an actual creative person. Rubin’s already convinced the label to go green by abolishing all plastic jewel cases for its CD releases, which – when you think about it – is a pretty major, sweeping change for a company of Columbia’s size and reach. We have to hold out hope that this is a sign for the future and that the old, antiquated model of a record label that has gradually self-destructed in a slow-burning fire of incompetence and obsoleteness is about to be replaced by a streamlined, culturally-savvy and malleable company that listens to the demands of its consumers in the same way it hopes they listen to its artists.

What are you thoughts, my pretties? Do record labels – even ones who hire the likes of Rick Rubin – stand a chance of catching up (and staying up) to date with their constituencies?

Share This