There’s a story going around the net about how Bon Jovi thinks that:
“Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business.” Here’s the MacStories.net link: http://bit.ly/gHRzFR
Now for my take…
What Bon Jovi has missed is the fact that ANY artist can be their own label now and get started with just one song. I suspect that Artists will eventually dis-intermediate labels completely and merely pay a distribution fee to carriers such as Apple. More money for them, more convenience for fans. What’s really being eliminated isn’t the magic – it’s the middlemen who were not adding any real value.
Also, don’t forget that the old system only gave record store shelf space to the elite and the chosen few. If you form a band today and record some tracks, those tracks can be online for free immediately. If you are patient, they can be online for sale in a few days to a Month. The old model was to sell cassettes from the trunk of your car!
Of course, indies won’t have the big money promotion machine on their side. They also won’t lose 95% of their recording revenues to the looters! How about keeping 70% of every sale instead? That’s what the new model promises.
Prey, don’t forget about the intermediate model that almost took hold: One guy buys an album at the store, uploads it and 10,000 people download it for free. Apple iTunes quickly made this method too painful and unreliable for most consumers. With a click and approximately 99 cents, bad audio quality, mislabeled songs, viruses, trojans, lawsuits from the RIAA, and broken hearts were eliminated. It simply became economical and upright for people to pay something for their music.
As for album covers and liner notes, isn’t a web site 10 times better? A web site offers the chance to actually interact with the band and other fans. Photos abound – both on the sites and as cover art displayed on digital devices.
Instead of the music business being dead, it’s been democratized. Perhaps the magic is just getting started for both fans and artists…
- Ray
Comments Off