The Talent-based Industries: You Need Money to Make Money
After recently writing about the boxing industry, people asked if there were similarities to the music business — and, in fact, the entertainment industry in general. Of course there are, as well as the many others that also globally comprise the talent-based industries. The similarities span from across the various sports industries to the fashion industry, and as you can likely imagine several additional industries that have been spawned by these aforementioned industries.
As you have seen and heard, we at Talkin’ Fight discuss fighters and their fights. This is not different than a writer who works for a music magazine offering to an editor a story on the band that they like — and feel that other people should share in their enthusiasm for this discovery of raw talent.
Let’s look at the basics. The talent-based industries all require the attributes of youth; the drive, the passion, the enthusiasm and all the creative elements that are offered for free, balanced by the attributes of age; the pragmatism, the experience, the connections. If you’re an artist, a writer, an actor or a musician, and young, be assured these things young people do for the pure enjoyment of their efforts, and happily do so alone in a room—which are appreciated (mainly) by friends and family members.
Likewise the same can be said of athletes, whether football, basketball or baseball players, golfers or boxers. They balance skill and training (and perseverance) are judged and ranked, typically while still as a young teenager, hoping first and foremost to make a positive impression on their parents. Over time, and I’ll bet the stats are staggering, the vast majority of talent must move along, mature and “get a job”.
Let’s have a look at the music industry: Year after year, the success and continued growth of the music industry is based on a simple “trust me” premise. It starts with the knowledge that a lot of musicians create a lot of music, more than what is needed to fill the needs of the radio stations and the racks of retail outlets, not to mention to fill the seats of stadiums, arenas and clubs across nations. Yet the numerous people who comprise the music industry trust that from among the numerous titles recorded and subsequently released, “hits” (untested but incredibly popular songs) will fuel the sales of product: albums, concert tickets and related merchandise.
Naturally, musicians inherently trust in their talent, that their music will assuredly get them signed, first to a manager, and then to a label, and possibly a publisher, each team entrusted to sell their art — which fall into the aforementioned industries that have been spawned from the dawn of time when people sang for joy — leading to fame and fortune for all, assuming the recording studio can be trusted to capture their sound and produce a hit. Musicians must also trust their agents know all the right promoters, and their publicists know all the right editors. Publicists will trust the artists will give a great interview day after day, and promoters will trust the musicians will put on a great show for paying fans, night after night.
Along the way, musicians will be asked to pay for legal, accounting and business advisors, and a swath of creative professionals to design their album jackets, advertisements, posters, t-shirts and videos. Somewhere along the way, from their first album to their next, from rags to riches, they trust they will be naturally inspired and will write another collection of great songs,
all relevant to their legions of fans and thus all worthy of climbing the charts on behalf of all the people they actually employ, a number which grows with each successive release… just like a boxer.
Based on the anticipated sales of their debut album, and all their contractually obligated subsequent albums, it goes without saying that, in order to climb the charts, all costs incurred are fully recoupable, from the recording, pressing and distribution of the finished master to the replication and delivery of advanced copies to those critical people within the trade (who must judge each single and album and decide its fate) and its production and physical delivery to every record store. It’s a talent-based industry.
The “lion’s share” of all revenue generated by the band’s songs will go toward those employed in the industry, though as seen above, industries. To be clear, it is by no means easy or cheap to create and foster a #1 song, or to even crack the Top 10, Top 20 or Top 40 in any given week, in any given country. You need to pay to play. Sound familiar?
We see the same in the realm of boxing. Indeed, the skills pay the bills. Young talent will first need to get trained and buy equipment; so, from their own pocket, we see boxers need to pay for time in a gym as well as their gloves, shoes and trunks, prior to being recognized by someone who can influence decision-makers within the industry: managers and promoters, for example, and move the boxer from amateur, simply, unpaid fighters to paid professionals and earn a ranked status from among the thousands of their competitors, and move up the rankings day by day, night after night.
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