The Freakonomics blog of the New York Times has the best collection of perspectives, thoughts and ideas I’ve read about the current and future states of the music business. It’s long, but required reading as far as I’m concerned. Among the quotes:
Koleman Strumpf: “As for the future, I am dubious about making forecasts. At the same time, I reject the argument that recorded music is
close to death, simply because the financial incentives to create music
have never been particularly high. In 2005, less than one in five
albums were released on a major label, and even among those releases,
fewer than one in fifteen went gold (the usual measure of record
success). With such daunting odds, recording an album may have seemed
like a pointless task. But in that year, nearly 44,000 albums were
released — enough to provide almost three consecutive years of
listening. Regardless of what happens to companies that produce and
distribute music, I am sure that recorded music will continue to be
made.”
Fredric Dannen: “My epiphany, if you want to call it that, was simply this: consumers of
recorded music will always embrace the format that provides the
greatest convenience. No other factor — certainly not high fidelity —
will move consumers substantially to change their listening and buying
habits.”
George Drakoulias: “For starters, while we’re still in agreement as a society that people
want music, I’d say music is not as important now as it once was.
Instant gratification has removed some of the the demand. Music feels
like it has become more disposable and cheap, with less staying power.
As a result, it becomes a lot harder to commit to newer acts knowing
they may not be around a year from now. I don’t see many kids nowadays
wearing the T-shirts of the latest fad bands, but I do see a hell of a
lot of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd shirts out there.”
Peter Rojas: “The majors thrived in an era of artificial scarcity when they were able
to control the production and distribution of music. Today, we have an
infinite number of choices available to us, and when content is
infinitely abundant, the only scarce commodities are convenience,
taste, and trust. The music companies that are successfully shaping the
Internet era are recognizing that the real value is in making it easier
to buy music than to steal it, helping consumers find other people who
share their music tastes, and serving as a trusted source for
discovering new music.”
That’s only a piece of the wisdom you’ll find on the blog – here’s the link again.
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