The music industry finally has no where else to go. Warner Music boss Edgar Bronfman conceded that the music industry is partly to blame for the proliferation of illegal music sharing. He further went on to say that those in the mobile phone industry could learn a lot from Apple and cautioned against ignoring consumers the way the music industry did.
With no where else to turn, many in the music industry are looking to the only bright spot on the horizon, or rather the only company apparently clever enough to make money on music: Apple. So what did Apple do that thousands of people in the music industry couldn’t seem to wrap their heads around? They figured out how to capitalize on what people were already doing.
There was no need for market analysis at the end of the 90’s. Consumers had already spoken. They wanted easy access to songs they liked. Most didn’t care to have entire albums, they just wanted to hear music they liked and they didn’t want to have to work hard to get it. Enter Apple with it’s extremely easy to use iTunes and moderate pricing scheme coupled with a mobile player that interfaced seamlessly with the software and suddenly they had a hit. Wow, someone please write that one down because it seems to be at the crux of Apple’s success lately.
Anyhow, is this enough to keep a bloated industry afloat? Well, yes and no. Edgar Bronfman is looking in the right direction. Apple seems to have a knack for identifying and delivering what people want, but it is going to take more than even iTunes can provide to make music the money machine that it once was. Look at the lesson of Radiohead’s recent release, where fans were allowed to “pay what they wanted”. Despite people’s ability to directly download the album for free, something like 70% of the distribution still took place through illegal file sharing. The free sharing of music is truly here to stay.
So is there any way to make money in music? Of course there is. Will it look like anything we’ve seen before? Of course not. Musicians and the music industry must take a long hard look at what they have that people want. Consumers want music. Brands want the attention of consumers. Advertisers work to promote brands. Hmm…the possibilities are endless. Wait a second, maybe we have seen this before…rich patrons commissioning art and music to promote their causes…sounds like the arrangement that nearly ALL western music was created under for the past few thousand years. Maybe Edgar Bronfman needs to pull one from Bach’s playbook.
Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director + Another Musician Seeking a Patron
Hans@Next2Friends.com
www.Next2Friends.com
November 15th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
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November 15th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
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November 20th, 2007 at 7:22 am
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November 22nd, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Any idea how much Radiohead’s In Rainbows has made so far?
November 24th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
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November 26th, 2007 at 4:01 am
Only Musicians can save the Music Industry, but sadly, they appear to come last or next to last in the mindset of the industry that they prop up. That needs to change. Only if one is a Paul McCartney or Sir Jagger does the industry seem to respect and reward the musician with adequate royalties and protection.
Popular music itself has never been so fragmented: once upon a time you had Soul - now you have R&B, Hip-hop, Dance, Trance, Nu-Soul, Garage, House and up to 30 other genres where there were possibly just one or 2.
Once upon a time there was just Rock, then it split into Heavy Metal and Progressive Rock: now its Rockabilly, Thrash, Grunge, New Age, Nu-Metal, Speed Metal, Death Metal, Indie and close to 100 other styles where there were possibly only 1 or 2.
What is required is new heroes and heroines to arise and weld all these mutually-exclusive and warring factions into one mighty whole again. These musicians need to have lots and lots of substance to balance all the hype and style that have become the norm nurtured by the industry. Sex and cool sell, but not enough apparently to save the industry from slow meltdown in the near future.
Jimi Hendrix kicked the doors open into space with his bizarre extension of the blues using string-bends, pulls, shakes, feedback sound effects and existential philosophy lyrics to create a “stream-of-consciousness” distilled into two and a half minutes of pure pop perfection. It combined many elements: music from all over the World, and the latest recording technology.
Those same elements exist today (indeed they have existed since the beginning of time). In fact, I argue that there is nothing new created in the world of man, just new and exciting combinations of already-existing creations.
Come on, you heroes and heroines - we need you NOW to make our day and save your industry from the self-induced implosion by our anally-retentive executives.