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Music Industry article from alt.music.who



Note the last item. Could this be the reason for a return to the concept album/rock opera?

keets


Thanks to GAIA --

http://www.musicindustrylaw.com/index.htm


Nine things the record industry should note about the future of music

1. Its the pricing, stupid.
Okay, it isnt just the pricing. Fans also want choice and convenience. They
want real choice in the artists, albums and songs they can purchase, they
want the ability to purchase just the 3 or 4 songs on modern pop albums that
really catch their interest, they want the convenience of getting their
choice in multiple formats to play on any device they own.

2. The Genie is out of the Bottle. Advice  let it go.
No amount of prayer, pleading or policing will make downloading music go
away. Bullying, creating scapegoats, scare mongering and engaging in hi-tech
vigilantism will not win you friends or customers. Instead of suing college
students and other music fans, try offering them an online music product
that will command their attention and money.

3. DRM is DOA
Theres a fundamental reason why digital rights management (DRM) will not
solve the record industrys woes  the human ear is an analog device. Every
digital recording must be converted into analog sound waves to be
perceived by human beings. If it can be heard, it can be re-digitized at
high quality sans any DRM.

Moreover, even if a completely hack-proof DRM scheme could be developed,
every CD currently in circulation would still provide would-be infringers
with pristine masters.

4. Technology doesnt steal music. Dissatisfied music fans steal music.
Make no mistake. Every person you denounce as a thief is a music
enthusiast and potential customer. Piracy is largely a symptom of consumer
dissatisfaction with industry offerings. And it is not just an online
problem. As long as CDs are priced exorbitantly, the incentive for piracy 
online and physical  will persist. Its laughably easy and cheap to
manufacture bootlegs  whether in virtual copies or otherwise.

BTW, the proper term is copyright infringement. Calling it theft might
satisfy your sense of moral outrage but it wont bring you any closer to
solving your problem.

5. Artists and their rights matter.
On the issue of moral outrage, you should do unto artists as you would have
their fans do unto you. Part of the ambivalence that music fans have about
downloading music for free is the sense that record labels rip off the
artists anyway. If fans truly understood the extent of unfairness with which
you treat the majority of their idols, that ambivalence would harden into
downright hostility.

The answer? Play fair. That means no more 7-album deals, bogus royalty
reductions, excessive recoupables, controlled composition clauses, domain
name hi-jacking, etc. Treat the talent as valued partners; Hollywood and the
professional sports reluctantly did that decades ago and are thriving today.

6. Technology isnt the enemy, its a potential ally.
P2P, MP3, AAC, as threatening as technology must seem to you, it can help
create some win-win solutions. Think catalogs and indie music for example.
If you eliminated access to the fewer than 50 multi-platinum albums a year
that the industry salivates over, it wouldnt make a dent in the demand for
music online because people care for a lot more than the current pop flavor
of the day.

The fact is that the current major label dominated system doesnt do a good
job of marketing and distributing current non-pop and catalog material  to
the continuing frustration of artists and fans alike. There is a tremendous
opportunity here to leverage catalog materials in new and exciting ways. But
dont forget to play fair with artists and fans. Paying mechanical royalties
of 2 cents per sale to songwriters on classic songs sold in 2003 is simply
unconscionable. Charging consumers an arm and a leg for music that has
generated profits for decades is also verboten.

7. Dont meter music. Make music ubiquitous!
The key to success with music online is in making music more easily and
widely available, not locking it up and metering its use. You must increase,
not reduce, access to music.

The last thing you should be doing is devising ways to prevent people from
listening to music. Apart from the fact that it is an impossible task (see
point#3  DRM is DOA - above), youre competing with films, video games,
books, television, and other forms of entertainment for peoples leisure
time. Viewed properly, your task is to gain as large a share of the 24 hours
in a day with compelling, convenient and affordably priced content that the
consumer values and will pay for.

The only way to make online music ubiquitous and profitable is in
collaboration with technology partners, especially broadband ISPs and
consumer electronics players. But dont forget rule #1!

8. Its bigger than the music industry.
First, artists  the creators without whom there truly is no content  have
not been adequately represented in the little that has passed for debate
about the future of music and copyright. Next, the changes that the record
labels and the movie studios are fomenting affect a lot more than copyright
but extend to freedom of speech, privacy and other civil liberties. With all
due respect, the global information society cannot afford to have the music
industry in the drivers seat on these critical issues.

Already, the RIAA and MPAAs litigiousness and bullying is having a chilling
effect in academia. Further, it adversely affects the economic interests of
the telecommunications, computer hardware, software and consumer electronics
industries whose hundreds of billions of dollars in revenues dwarf the
record industrys $12 billion.

9. You must prove your relevance. How? By reinventing the recording
industry.
In the past decade or so, the minimum cost required to create the two
essential music business assets  copyrights in music compositions and sound
recordings  has dropped remarkably, thanks to new recording technology.
Yet, neither musicians (your suppliers) nor music fans (your customers) have
benefited economically from this change because the old industry with its
bloated economic infrastructure is fossilized. Way too much is spent on
promotion and marketing, to the main benefit of radio and Viacoms music
video properties.

Technology has also undone CDs and other physical media as containers and de
facto units of trade. This means that unlike CDs, introducing audio DVDs
will not create windfall revenues. In fact, you can no longer lock people
into paying for music they dont want  regardless of the medium. If the
album is to remain relevant as a format, it has to represent compelling
value to the consumer.

If there is any single lesson to take away from the success of the MP3
format, it is that convenience, choice and affordability trump sound quality
for the modern music fan. Give the people what they want!

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