Since the golden age of payola, investment bankers have laughed at music as the world’s dumbest investment. But while Wall Street gurus such as Lehman Brothers and Bernie Madoff guided their moneyed gentry into investments like AIG, General Motors, Worldcom, Adelphia and Enron, all under the watchful eye of the SEC, music companies were busy generating billions upon billions of dollars by selling products of tangible, objective value. Music! By the way, has anyone seen my check from the government for our loans to GM and AIG? I’m sure they owe each of us at least a Camaro and a health insurance policy by now.

Which would you rather have today, a thousand shares of Enron stock or the copyright to Stairway to Heaven? Pan Am stock certificates are now framed novelties while u2’s “360 Tour” sold $736.1 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter. 

When Nike wanted to use The Beatles’ “Revolution” for a tv campaign, they didn’t just rip it and go on the air. They first paid a reported $7 million for limited rights to use the song in their advertising. 

Perhaps the rumors of music’s demise have been slightly exaggerated.

There is good reason why music is considered a lousy investment, though. Most music projects fail!   Most of them don’t generate anywhere near the cash flow that the icons do.  Why? Because what makes an artist wildly popular in the marketplace and what causes their music to break through starts with a great song and artist, but is birthed and maintained by a lot of hard work that goes on out of the public eye.

It is this combination of talent, management, business affairs, accounting, investment, great recording, productization, marketing (new and old), publicity, promotion, booking, staging, travel logistics, merchandising and distribution that boost a great artist to where we can “discover” them. No "killer app" has yet been developed that can do this.

But even with a million dollar investment in the launch of the artist, success is not guaranteed. It has to be a great song and a brilliant artist! Lots of bad singers with money have tried it and it just doesn’t work that way.  It has to be an artist with a soul and a particular point of view that people want to hear.

Some estimates say hundreds of thousands of artists take a shot at it every year.  And it’s painful to watch them, because I know that without the whole support mechanism in place, their chances are almost nil.

But for those who understand this and for those investors and labels who discover the right act with the right music at the right time, everyone involved can still make a good living at it, despite the rampant piracy. Why? Because even though the piracy clearly hurts, a solid, long-lasting music career is made-up of many revenue streams. Those who understand how to build these revenues through touring, merchandise, endorsements, sponsorships and licensing will continue to prosper. And judging from our recent economic past, great artists will most likely weather the economic storm better than pc manufacturers, auto makers, insurance companies and certain "green Job" companies who manufacture air ware at taxpayers' expense. 

© 2011 Moore Hits Productions LLC

Ukrainian Rock band Hiper Chel is the focus of a surprise announcement coming next week from Moore Hits Productions. The band has been demo-ing a brilliant collection of songs and are poised to begin pre-production in August. Lead vocalist Lidiia K. avoids pretense at all costs, opting to create and sing songs about actual experiences and concepts.

Moore Hits will apply a new business model to the recording and mass-marketing of Hiper Chel. It is a true partnership, where the label and artist work together on each step of the funding, recording, marketing and   touring process. As partner, the artist earns a greater share from each revenue stream and the label provides service in all areas of recording, marketing and   career development. We believe this is truly a sustainable artist model for the future, says Michael Moore, Founder.

hiperchel.com

In July, Moore Hits will stage a radical fundraising drive, to fund the label and its first release by Ukraine’s Hiper Chel.  Moore Hits is creating a new type of record label, partnering with the artist and helping them to prosper, then inviting them to partner in the release of the next artist and invite the third artist to invest in the following artist and so on.  This will create a completely new type of record label, designed to truly prosper the artists and build a creative community, supporting each other to push beyond the commercial boundaries to discover their creative zenith. We believe that this will ultimately benefit the fans, since these brilliant artists will be always striving to push beyond the basic commercial formula that’s so common in today’s pop music. Stand by for more, next week about this campaign.

moorehits.com

Snowe has been writing the most inspired music of her life, this year. She has found her groove in Baton Rouge, with producer Darius "Deezle" Harrison who is helping her build the soundscape around it. She is stoked and after hearing some of the demo’s I am so happy for her. Traci Snowe is the deal!

tracisnowe.com