MUSIC MONOLITH DOESN'T STAND SO TALL
+ BY ALEXA WEBB ++ September 19th, 2008

The recording industry is experiencing a paradigm shift, and many music veterans are holding on for dear life. With the proliferation of internet use and the ease at which even grandparents can illegally download music online, old school industry members are panicking.

"Music will never die," says Koosh Nall, manager at Monolith and Sky, based in New York City. "People need music, and people need us to give it to them. As long as music exists, we'll be around." But with the recent set of RIAA lawsuits, the music industry doesn't seem to be coming out on top.

Things aren't all calm on the homefront, either. With the internet putting power into the hands of the musicians, traditional roles like music managers are in jeopardy. "Unless you have managers who are embracing what the internet means to music, you're going to fail," says E. White, part of a new wave of tech-savvy music management. Rumors of bankruptcy for businesses like Monolith and Sky just seem to corroborate her story.

But Nall is right about one thing. Music is an integral part of the fabric of people's lives, even more so with the advent of players like the iPod, which allows people to carry around their entire musical history in their pocket. The worldwide support being demonstrated around things like the disappearance of artist Amanda Palmer goes to show that music does matter. "Look at Amanda [Palmer] disappearing, I'll bet you her albums are flying off the shelves. See? People love music," says Nall, who used to manage Palmer. "She might even be dead, but music doesn't die."

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+MUSIC MONOLITH doesn't stand so tall