Before the 1980s most record labels focused some of their attention on developing and enhancing the talents of their newly signed on artists. However, in the current context many of the major labels assume that an artist who has signed on has sufficient musical, performance and songwriting talents. Most of the 60s and 70s rock bands and artists who dominate the music industry even today can attribute their success to the recording labels artist development programs.
However by the dawn of the new millennium most recording labels had changed the name of their artist development departments into product development. This means that the companies shifted their focus from nurturing and developing an artist’s talents to aggressively promoting the music and high pressure sales development tactics to ensure new albums are sold quickly. That being said even in the current context there are some examples for artist development include Radiohead, The Barenaked Ladies, Kanye West and the Dave Matthew’s band. Within the present day music business another segment of artists who benefit from the old school methods of artist development are teen pop artists. Since it may take a significant amount of time for recording labels to recover their investments most labels sign up these young artists for a long period of time.
Artists and product development go hand in hand. A balance between developing artists’ talents and the business aspect are required for artists to make it big and stay at the top. Hence, art is no less than commerce for today’s developing musician.