This is a guest post by Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor of the highly influential American music blog Hypebot.

What Will It Take To Unite Artist, Industry and Fan?

Inevitably, I’m afraid there is no right answer to this question, only a multitude of different perspectives on how we got ourselves to this position in the first place. While there are quite a few reoccurring themes and theories alike that keep finding their way into the narrative of this story, perhaps, there is still much to be learned about the reshaping of an artist’s role in the digital age, the evolution of music consumerism, and the shifting economics of the Recording Industry. Nor do I believe that there are a range of solutions that when executed properly will restore order and salvage what remains of our fractured music culture.

Nowadays, Digital Natives discard and consume popular music repetitively through file-sharing not only for reasons of fashion but because as fans they take it for granted that the Major Labels and a growing underbelly of independent musicians together will produce a continuous flow of new music. But, as we learn to appreciate the idea that the values of the world they inhibit and the technologies they surround themselves with have had a profound effect on who they are, we can begin to understand that the social ecology of music culture that took decades or more to develop offline, isn’t just going to reappear online.

“It’s a long shot, sure,” Eric Harvey of Pitchfork writes, “but at a time when so much of the structure that holds together music culture has disappeared, fans could take the initiative to create a new one.” To be sure, much significance has already been placed on the role that this population of Digital Natives could potentially play in the future of the Recording Industry and on artists establishing a deep relationship with these fans. But the reality of this and other old-fashioned businesses learning to co-exist and co-create with this new audience, I’m afraid, that’s a process that we’ll be observing for many years to come.

Professors John Palfrey and Urs Gasser forewarn in their book release Born Digital, “Make no mistake: We are at a crossroads. There are two possible paths before us—one in which we destroy what is great about the Internet and how young people use it, and one in which we make smart choices and head toward a bright future in the digital age.” Truer words, I’d argue, have never been spoken. Such words, relate so closely to the choices that the Recording Industry has made over the last decade, leaving us to wonder if those choices have already hindered the development of the culture that could, one day, be their savior.

Spillers Records, established in Cardiff in 1894 by Henry Spiller, lays claim to being, “The Oldest Record Shop in The World.” At 115 years old, it could be argued that this represents a fair guess as to how long it took the audience for buying music to develop and the social ecology of record stores to evolve into hyper consumers and the big-box retailers that we see today. On the other hand, iTunes is only 8 years old. Yet, no one doubts that we will live to see the day where paying 99¢ a song becomes an outdated idea and the reality of being able to share the entire history of recorded music over the Internet will change everything.

Salvation for the Recording Industry lies in their ability to offer services that are more in step with the emerging social norms of Digital Natives. For artists, that means aligning themselves to benefit from these norms rather than become victims. As the tagline goes, rampant file-sharing of your music shouldn’t be the biggest concern of artists, because, today, obscurity is their number one enemy. In the end, it’s hard to say what it will take to unite artist, industry and fan, because while human beings are great thinkers and dreamers, predictors of the future we are not.

Kyle Bylin [pictured left] is Associate Editor of the highly influential music industry blog Hypebot, which is read daily by more than 10,000 music industry professionals. He writes primarily about the impact of technology on the Recording Industry and developing trends in music consumerism. To view Bylin’s past work, start here. Contact him via email.