A great Keynote Panel at In the City, with Daniel Miller, founder of Mute Records. He was asked for his views on the future of the record industry given the recent news about Radiohead asking their fans to pay what they wish for their music and Madonna doing a deal with Live Nation. For Daniel, it felt like a return to the days of 30 years ago, when indie distribution was starting, giving an opportunity to those who had no industry background to put stuff out…be they artists or people like Tony Wilson (Factory) or Geoff Travis (Rough Trade). He stated that there has always been the opportunity for artists to do it themselves. For some reason though, he has seen many that decide not to go down the DIY route partly because

they want to have some money, have some support…international backup…they don’t want to run their own business.

With regards the record company, he stated that there will always be a role for some expertise such as A&R and marketing and promotion, whether it takes the form of a record company is another matter. Finally, he noted that the two key people in all of this are the artists making great music and the people who listen. This is the most important thing to focus on. Everything else is up for discussion.

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  3. DIY Music – So what kind of artist wants to go DIY?
  4. Unsigned at In The City: The Rosie Taylor Project
  5. The future of music retailing?