Where is The Music Business Going?

[bigtree]

What's the global response/ The RO community to this highly controversial topic.

Where is The Music Business Going?

I'm going to mass mail this thread to the RO community and see where it goes...

"The Internet, and downloading, are here to stay... Anyone who thinks otherwise should prepare themselves to end up on the slagheap of history." (Janis Ian during a live European radio interview, 9-1-98)

Here are a few statements from the RIAA's website:

1."Analysts report that just one of the many peer-to-peer systems in operation is responsible for over 1.8 billion unauthorized downloads per month". (Hilary B. Rosen letter to the Honorable Rick Boucher, Congressman, February 28, 2002)
2."Sales of blank CD-R discs have…grown nearly 2 * times in the last two years…if just half the blank discs sold in 2001 were used to copy music, the number of burned CDs worldwide is about the same as the number of CDs sold at retail." (Hilary B. Rosen letter to the Honorable Rick Boucher, Congressman, February 28, 2002)
3."Music sales are already suffering from the impact…in the United States, sales decreased by more than 10% in 2001."(Hilary B. Rosen letter to the Honorable Rick Boucher, Congressman, February 28, 2002)
4."In a recent survey of music consumers, 23%…said they are not buying more music because they are downloading or copying their music for free."(Hilary B. Rosen letter to the Honorable Rick Boucher, Congressman, February 28, 2002)

Let's take these points one by one, but before that, let me remind you of something: the music industry had exactly the same response to the advent of reel-to-reel home tape recorders, cassettes, DATs, minidiscs, VHS, BETA, music videos ("Why buy the record when you can tape it?"), MTV, and a host of other technological advances designed to make the consumer's life easier and better. I know because I was there.

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Those with big bankrolls are the ones who get most stations just to listen to their music.

"It seems like now, [for] corporate-owned radio stations, it's not about the music so much as what compensation they are getting for playing the records,"

Industry critics call it pay for play, and they say it's happening throughout the music business.

Where is The Music Business Going?

Don't hold back...

[bigtree]

here's an excerpt from http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/...la_020524.html

"You look at the radio and they got the same 30 records circulating. These 30 records are paid for, and the minute you stop hearing a record, that means that records not paid for anymore,"says Chuck D, a rapper with Public Enemy. "It's a different type of payola."

According to documents obtained by 20/20, Work Records, a now-defunct division of Sony Music, paid indies more than $400,000 in one year after Fiona Apple's song "Criminal" got nationwide airplay.

"Who's going to give the grass-roots person a chance?" asks Chuck D. "They can't get on the airwaves, which is supposed to belong to the people. That's a damn shame."

[bigtree]

"There is no denying that times are tough for the music business, but not because of downloading," said Josh Bernoff, principal analyst at Cambridge, Massachusetts-based research firm Forrester Research, who released a report on the digital music market.

Based on surveys of 1,000 U.S. online consumers, Forrester said it sees no evidence of decreased CD buying among frequent digital music consumers and said the record labels could restore industry growth by making it easier for people to find, copy, and pay for music on their own terms.

Forrester said the labels will learn to fulfill Internet consumer demands in the next few years, predicting that by 2005, labels will endorse a standard download contract that supports burning and a greater range of devices.

Downloading will start to soar in 2005 as finding content becomes effortless and impulse purchases easy. Labels will make content available on equal terms to all distributors, while online retailers will become hubs for downloading, Forrester said.

excerpts from http://msn.com.com/2100-1106-949717.html

[audiowkstation]

This seems to be the topic of today Chris.

I had a conversation today with a long time professional in the recording arts that visits here and we both agreed we are seeing things that never exsisted before in the recording arts.

The money people are bypassing the labels as well.

To sum it up (I want to read others responses on this to see what they know..as I know so much it is staggering about the biz. I know things you do not want to know.

The sum it up line is the golden rule.

"Those who have the gold make thy rule"

Begin play. I am listening. Chime on in all.

[bigtree]

Trade body the Recording Industry Association of America has estimated that about 3.6 billion songs are illegally downloaded per month.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ia/1846024.stm

[HiString]

For some time the word to young aspiring bands has been don't rely on CD sales for income. Work your arse off refining your performance skills as that is where the money will be made.

Now that philosophy is not entirely new, but I think it is far more relevant these days than it was in the past.

Re CD sales............locally at least, there
has been a trend in the major CD "chain" stores over the last 3 or 4 years which has seen major reductions in the range of CDs being stocked. If a CD cant sell in a relatively short time, then they don't want it on their shelves. These stores are also selling at full retail price or close to it.

Opposed to this is another store which stocks an almost unbelievable range AND discounts nearly all CDs they sell. They have recently doubled their floor space and you still can't move in there for people.

The main conclusion I make from this is that CDs are priced TOO high. Maybe the manufacturers should adopt and modify the line from Field of Dream to............"Reduce your pricing and they will come"

[bigtree]

Good points HiString

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here is an interesting article

Pressplay is the newest copyright-friendly music service, making its debut in December on Yahoo, MSN Music, and Roxio. Pressplay is backed by Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and EMI. Its chief rival is MusicNet, which launched in December. Financed by Warner Music, BMG and, again, EMI, MusicNet is available from RealNetworks and America Online. And last week, Napster invited 20,000 people to test its upcoming fee service. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,79023,00.asp

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excerpts from http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,80564,00.asp

[pan]

Who needs labels in the grassroots-level anymore?
A band selling 500 copies over the net on it's own for a slightly lower-than-retail-price will make more money out of it, than having a label pushing 5000 copies to stores, wasting manpower and the band's earnings for promotion. IMO, there's no better promotion for a band, than getting distributed by mp3 peer2peer groups.
my 2 cents (euro)

n

[HiString]

Actually there is much better promotion for a band than relying on mp3 style sites, but the band has to be prepared to...... 1; be terribly honest about their abilities and/or lack there of. 2; Commit to their goals and work their arses off to achieve them.

And you are probably correct in your calculations of profits in the given scenario and this is fine for a lot of bands, particularly (OK, I know this is being harsh, BUT.....) when a frightening number of bands out there are not, for whatever reason, ever going to be capable of making the "big time", and there are some who should never leave their garages.

But there are bands out there who have the ability and talent to achieve that goal so many dream of.........and for those bands, selling 500 CDs on the internet is insignificant when weighed up against their potential sales if they manage to make their dream a reality, regardless of which genre their music is in.

[pan]

But there are bands out there who have the ability and talent to achieve that goal so many dream of.........and for those bands, selling 500 CDs on the internet is insignificant when weighed up against their potential sales if they manage to make their dream a reality, regardless of which genre their music is in.

You are right, but a band with a major deal is set on hold and will never be able to release a second album, if their debut only sells 1000 copies, while their chances rise to get a good deal if they can show off with a self-promoted no-loss album.

n