Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Projections: Music Industry Down 20 Percent by 2011

Re: Projections: Music Industry Down 20 Percent by 2011

dot — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:56:01 -0000

that's really an interesting idea johny guy and i couldn't agree more. people have never consumed as much music as they do now and somehow it's viewed as a bad thing. man.

maybe it's not membership. maybe we have to break people out of the idea that they "own" the music. Right now most music lovers want to own the music (or at least feel as though they're not restricted) but largely don't believe paying for music is especially necessary.

Celestial jukebox? Five or ten bucks a month, all you can listen to anywhwre, anytime on ANY device - including mobile handsets. Music becomes a utility, it levels the playing field for artists as far as distribution goes and labels can go back to concentrating on marketing and A&R.

How do you make sure everyone gets paid properly? Well, figuring that out is part of the process. All of the governing bodies around music need to be streamlined anyway, it's ridiculous - mechanical rights, publishing, performance... this stuff needs to be updated badly... and don't get me started on copyright.

Re: Projections: Music Industry Down 20 Percent by 2011

johny guy — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:07:10 -0000

When technology renders something obsolete, the right thing to do isn't sue people and get attached to your obsolete business model forever.

What they have to do, is find some way to add value to music in such a way that having a copy of a song isn't enough, similarly to what mmorpgs are to games, you can't pirate them because the real value of the game is based on an online membership.

How to do this? well, maybe its time to rethink the whole thing, its not like they don't have the people or the money to do it.

Re: Projections: Music Industry Down 20 Percent by 2011

BRIX — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:22:06 -0000

Another great post!

Re: Projections: Music Industry Down 20 Percent by 2011

dgood — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:30:28 -0000

If someone told me my music had no intrinsic value beyond advertising, I'd call that insulting. There are plenty of acts that I have no intention of seeing live. Bands will still need a way (and deserve) to earn money on what they produce. I'm getting value out of it, I should pay for that value. Saying we shouldn't pay for it is starting with an outcome (I don't want to pay, or people can get around paying) and rationalizing it. I'm not defending the current system, and studios and artists need to respond to consumer trends (even if it's rampant stealing), but that doesn't mean the value of the music has just disappeared.