Music industry watch

Progress in the music industry

Too bad this progress is butt ugly, but finally some forward movement towards putting the incumbent music industry out of business. First off, Rolling Stone talks about the music industry dying and in the first few pages they dish up some choice quotes that let us peek into the status quo of the music industry:

The major labels are struggling to reinvent their business models, even as some wonder whether it's too late. "The record business is over," says music attorney Peter Paterno, who represents Metallica and Dr. Dre. "The labels have wonderful assets -- they just can't make any money off them." One senior music-industry source who requested anonymity went further: "Here we have a business that's dying. There won't be any major labels pretty soon."

and

... Warner Music Group, announced that it would lay off 400 people, and its stock price lingered at fifty-eight percent of its peak from last June.

We all know that the industry is dying because the majors have refused to "reinvent" their business models. They are simply too inflexible and steeped in their old crummy practices that "reinventing" means giving up the gravy train they've been riding for too long. CD Baby and Magnatune, two music companies that get it, are doing fine and growing.

Progress is nice -- not doubt. But we all know animals will lash out and do severe damage when cornered. And what is going on with the streaming royalties is a great example of that: Today is the Internet Radio Day of Silence. In protest of the new royalties a number of broadcasters are not going to transmit their usual radio today. The efforts of Sound Exchange will kill off a number of radio broadcasters that do not deserve to die, but in the end they will serve to kill off themselves.

And that will be to our advantage in the end, it will just be a little ugly getting there. I do know that a number of foreign companies will spring up to fill the void left by US broadcasters. Problem is that they will not benefit US workers or US artists. Once again it increasingly looks better to do business outside the US than inside.

Ugly, but its progress.

Posted by Mayhem at June 26, 2007 11:58 AM