As far as I can tell from what I read, EMI seems to be the most open minded of the big music labels. Today’s news that they’ve hired former Google CIO Douglas Merrill as president of digital is the latest example.
Here’s one of his first quotes:
“I’m passionate about data,” Merrill said during a phone interview Wednesday with CNET News.com.
“For example, there’s a set of data that shows that file sharing is
actually good for artists. Not bad for artists. So maybe we shouldn’t
be stopping it all the time. I don’t know…I am generally speaking
(against suing fans). Obviously, there is piracy that is quite
destructive but again I think the data shows that in some cases file
sharing might be okay. What we need to do is understand when is it
good, when it is not good…Suing fans doesn’t feel like a winning
strategy.”
He then highlights an open minded strategy of testing multiple business models to see what works best. Sounds smart to me.
What jumps out to me about this article is Merrill’s encouraging tone. It’s not surprising considering his Google roots, but it is refreshing in the music business. I’ve said again and again that the internet is the best thing to happen to music (and movies, etc. etc.) ever. I’m glad to see EMI making a move to embrace it proactively.
What do you think?
