...or the story of how the corporate music industry killed rock'n'roll.
***Legal disclaimer: please read! ***
As you may notice the allegations made in this document are completely unattributed. Those who conducted the extensive research and those insiders who helped them have been granted anonymity as protection against a highly litigious and cashed up corporate sector. For the same legal reasons it must be stated emphatically that the contents of this document are completely fictional, totally made up and bear no resemblance whatsoever to reality.
No truth to it at all. Nuh-uh. No way.
What does a small, quiet city in southeastern Alberta have to do with one of the biggest secrets in the music industry?
Faced with a complete collapse of their business model due to digitisation and the rise of electronic music, the five major international music companies met secretly here in 2003.
What emerged was a shocking plan to manipulate public taste for profit and to completely destroy the world's most popular, influential and loved musical style.
The Story
The Medicine Hat Conspiracy revolves around an alleged meeting held in August, 2003 in the town of Medicine Hat, in the Southeast corner of the Canadian province of Alberta. At this meeting high level executives from all five of the world's major music corporations (Sony, BMG, Warner, Universal and EMI) came together to discuss the future direction of the music industry.
At this point the digitisation of music and file sharing over the internet threatened to completely undermine the industry's main business model. For 100 years this had consisted of making and selling physical copies of musical works - compact discs, and before that records, tapes and gramophones - in stores all over the world. Another potentially fatal threat was the rise of electronic music. The popularity of raves and dance clubs meant the live music scene was under threat in a major way, especially at the local level.
Medicine Hat, Alberta, pop 63,260
Medicine Hat Holiday Inn, where the alleged meeting took place.
The meeting room where the historic agreement was allegedly agreed.
The Medicine Hat airport recorded private flights arriving on the day of the meeting from Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, London and Berlin.
Private jets are a common sight at Medicine Hat airport due to industry executives visiting the nearby gas fields.
During the meeting, the story goes, the representative from Sony presented research which showed the best way forward was to abandon rock n' roll. Not just rock though, basically any band-based, guitar driven, lyrically catchy and meaningful type of music. The research showed the rise of electronic music had shown none of these were vital for the creation of music people would enjoy. Band-made music resonated deeper and linked to meaningful milestones in people's lives, which was why people sang them out loud at parties, in the car or in the shower decades after first hearing them. This was exactly the opposite of what was needed going forward.
The Sony representative argued that every classic song anyone listened to anywhere in the world was a missed opportunity. The profit on that song was inevitably made long ago. Better to have that potential consumer's focus on something new, something they may still have an opportunity to monetise in some way. He argued the only option if all the companies present were to exist going forward was to release music that was more forgettable, music that didn't clog up the marketplace for decades. Furthermore the companies needed to agree to all do this together, in a coordinated way, so that nobody in their market, which meant almost everyone on the planet, caught on. If they did not agree to this, to a deliberate and substantial effort to shift their consumers' tastes away from the music they had loved, the music that had built these 5 giant corporate entities, the research showed none of them would exist in a decade.
Surprisingly the German representative from BMG spoke up right away to support the findings of the Sony report. He noted their research had noted similar trends and possibilities in the market. Based as they were n Europe they were front and centre for the rise of electronic music and had been looking closely at the associated costs. No surprises that the costs of supporting bands made up of musicians - travel, equipment, studio time and costly legal issues - decreased dramatically when you were supporting an electronic artist with a laptop, a box of records or a thumb drive.
(Just as an interesting side note Sony and BMG would go on to announce a partnership early the next year, reducing the industry 'Big 5' to just 4. In 2008 BMG would sell their share of the partnership to Sony and pull out of the industry they had been a massive part of since their launch as RCA Victor in 1929.)
A single producer, working with production software, could make music more easily and much cheaper than a band.
The meeting was told that supporting bands, touring and releasing 'albums' was no longer a profitable option for the industry.
Guitar based, lyrically meaningful music spent too long in the charts, blocking the pathway for new product to make money.
The idea of abandoning an entire genre of music and getting rid of musicians was something that was hard to accept at first for the others in the room, but as they looked over the Sony research figures they soon came around. They knew the industry, saw what was going on and knew they were in a lot of trouble. When it came down to it none of them had a better idea.
The Fallout
In the years after the meeting the music industry went through a noticeable and significant shift. Rock music had basically disappeared from the charts by 2010, despite the fact that tours by bands from the 1980's and 1990's were setting records for attendance and revenues. Music was made more and more exclusively on computers, with software and digital sounds taking the place of music made with instruments. Licensing and placement became more important than sales and chart position. Producers were the new bands, releasing tracks with featured artists rather than albums.
Headline level artists and tours were maintained but as smaller venues and opportunities disappeared the flow of new bands coming through naturally slowed to a trickle. The absolute best - those who generated their own hype despite the obstacles and were therefore guaranteed to make profits with a little help - could still be signed but there was no need to keep unprofitable bands on the books, or to maintain support for any type of 'entry level' industry. The rise of festivals around the world allowed plenty of opportunity for these artists to play and the industry to cash in.
Many small and medium sized venues - especially in regional areas - closed as the number of touring bands decreased.
Music festivals, which consolidated production and touring costs by featuring multiple artists at one event, became the preferred industry option.
The Conclusion
There is no doubt that musical tastes and styles have changed significantly in the past 20 years. Rather than being a natural progression however this has been down to a deliberate effort by the companies who run the music business to manipulate consumer tastes and popularise music which was instantly forgettable - and therefore more profitable. It makes the industry exponentially more money to have a new number one every week, rather than a classic track that stays in the charts for months.
Despite the rise of streaming the four major music corporations maintain complete control over what gets played on the radio, in advertisements, in movies and tv shows in every major market on the planet. By promoting more profitable styles and artists through these media they have conditioned listeners, especially younger people with no memory of anything different to fall back on, to accept music with no soul and lyrics with little meaning or depth.
The result of all this, of that alleged meeting in Medicine Hat and all that came after, is a music industry lacking in one key component. Musicians - those who collaborate to create some of the greatest, most loved and most moving works of art humanity has ever known - have been left behind by the multi-billion dollar industry they created. In just 70 years the music industry has gone from showcasing an art form which reflected society's passions and made life meaningful to producing a product which maximises profit by manipulating consumer tastes.
The Medicine Hat Conspiracy shows the sudden decline of rock music as a popular genre is no accident. It is a result of an intentional and very successful effort by corporate entities to change tastes and ultimately buying behaviour. Only time will tell if the basic human need for art which explains and interprets the energy and complexity of life will continue to be held hostage in the interest of corporate greed.