Article: What will save the industry

[BJohnston]

Not sure if anyone has seen this yet. Please read and comment.

The Forrester Blog For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals


B

[MarsBot]

I have to say that the whole "consumer's right to remix" seems overblown to me: a gimmick. I'm not opposed to it, but I just don't think that makes a music product much more attractive. I think it might create some fun fodder for musically inclined fans if there is a creative commons approach to copyright. But look at a lot of the great artistic creations of history.

Do fans really want to rewrite Shakespeare? Yes, there is fan fiction, but does the product become "better" than Shakespeare's original? Artists of all kinds create final products whose impact depends on the "final mix" or final edit. Sure everybody wants to get their hands on the Beatles' stems, but are we going to get something better than the Beatles original mixes? Personally, I really want to hear, see, read the artist's final vision (mix) of her work. I'm interested in how she put the parts together not in playing around with the parts she used.

[Darwin James]

What will save the industry?

If engineers would have "Just Said No".

No to booking plastic, manufactured, talentless teen girls, and wussy boy bands from the Disney channel. Everyone else trying to be like them. And the "manufactuartists" found at the top of places like the myspace charts, heck the "talent" on MTV reality shows too while we are at it.

Just say no! Too late. (FF to 1:45 for a laugh, one baby who knows quality when she doesn't see it)



Just say no! Oh God make it stop.



"Why is our industry dying????" Gee, I wonder.

[rack gear]

Bay City Rollers. Leif Garret. Old Story.

I dunno.

Manufactured Pop Music has been around a loooong time.

It's just hard to sell something people feel entitled to steal.

seems pretty simple to me.

The problem with that entire article, and all the reports like it are this:

MUSIC IS THE PRODUCT.

Music is not the by-product of a widget.

A CD is a 5" Plastic Disc - by itself it's pretty much worthless - so are the countless megabytes, of harddrive space that music now occupies.

THE CONTAINER IS CHEAP THE PRODUCT IS NOT.

Music is a touchstone to a deeper root of the human experience. The only thing that has changed in the last decade from the prior decades of the Recorded Music Industry is the rampant, unauthorized, mass scale ILLEGAL DUPLICATION & DISTRIBUTION of the product.

Any solution that creates another DIGITAL PRODUCT just means that the new DIGITAL PRODUCT can be stolen and ILLEGALLY DUPLICATED AND DISTRIBUTED as well - so that's not so much of a solution.

I understand that all these folks are well meaning with their "solutions" but how about this one big obvious solution that seems to grossly overlooked as just not an option:

BUY MUSIC DON'T STEAL IT.

simple.

[carllock]

They have lava lamps so it must be good?

[PMoshay]

Letting people remix stuff will only line your pockets for a short time till people get bored with that too, just like the Rock Band video game.

What we need is to focus & spend time developing real hard working/talented artists to help them deliver great work for many years to come.

Nothing has ever changed with the human experience with music ...... only the technology that stores & plays it.

[Watersound]

Originally Posted by PMoshay

Letting people remix stuff will only line your pockets for a short time till people get bored with that too, just like the Rock Band video game.

What we need is to focus & spend time developing real hard working/talented artists to help them deliver great work for many years to come.

Nothing has ever changed with the human experience with music ...... only the technology that stores & plays it.

Guys, the business we grew up with is done and never coming back. There will be pockets where money can be made, sure, but the infrastructure is not there anymore. Music is free and we must accept it. The question each and every one of us needs to ask ourselves is "why do we do music?" For me the answer is "because it's what I do, it's what I love, and I don't care if I make a penny doing it from this point forward." There will always be revenue streams but the wild wild west is here to stay.

[Darwin James]

Love. Passion.

personal stuff/
I went to a Blues concert tonight with numerous different players, and all I saw where a bunch of guys playing music because they loved it. Having a great time, they didn't care how they looked, or if they were going to make any money. Or how big or small the crowd was.

I've also been stressing over my age, 37 and feeling like I am too old, then I see old guy after old guy get on stage and play. I'll never worry about my age again. I learned something tonight.
/personal stuff

[BJohnston]

As I am not opposed to the consumer multi media options... I don't really see how more work and time spent = more financial reward? There's no way to charge more $ for the same product. No matter how many more options you throw in. Your Radioheads of the world may be the exceptions to that rule, but bands of that magnitude have already made their millions...with the help of major label funds mind you. The very basic problem as I see it is that there is no way to measure and equate creativity. With most industries you have a base cost or starting point to begin applying fees for services from. How much is an idea worth? There use to be a way to measure creative ideas with dollars and cents. Even though that system was flawed as well, at least the major music labels supplied a market to base our products worth from. We, as an industry, have accepted these new rules without placing value on our experience and skills.

[Alxi]

I didn't read the article... but

Why not give it away on line ( the music ) it's allready there anyway. Why not print a limited number of copies with extra songs, incredible artwork and sell it 4-5 times the price it is now for the hardcore fans? Make it a collectable item... again

If you want people to buy albums you have to make them wanna by them. Music in it self is not selling so why not use it as some kind of advertissement to sell the artist it self. It's public image, apperances etc.

like someone here said, people don't care about bits and bytes and that's what music is to them right now... but they always care about the artists. They read about them online, they go to youtube to see bits of theire perfomances, they buy tickets when the come to town etc...

Anyway, It's the way i see it.

-Alxi-

[RTR]

Originally Posted by Darwin James

What will save the industry?

If engineers would have "Just Said No".

No to booking plastic, manufactured, talentless teen girls, and wussy boy bands from the Disney channel. Everyone else trying to be like them. And the "manufactuartists" found at the top of places like the myspace charts, heck the "talent" on MTV reality shows too while we are at it.

Just say no! Too late. (FF to 1:45 for a laugh, one baby who knows quality when she doesn't see it)



Just say no! Oh God make it stop.



"Why is our industry dying????" Gee, I wonder.

This is a FUKin disgrace, I don't know how we can be expected to compete with this shit..money or no money I would not want my name on this crap..

[chrisrnps]

Music available on mobile devices? Check.

Free, downloadable "make your own remix" applets and files? Check.

Social-networking applications and sites with "friends" and "chat"? Check.

Streaming video? Check.

Song lyrics? Check.

I don't know what will "save" the "industry", but I'll bet it will have something to do with calling bulls**t on paying money for reports and "manifestoes" from corporate consulting firms claiming to re-invent years-old ideas that are already commonplace.

Consulting firms? Focus groups?

That is the problem with "the industry".

[dotcom]

Originally Posted by chrisrnps

Music available on mobile devices? Check.

Free, downloadable "make your own remix" applets and files? Check.

Social-networking applications and sites with "friends" and "chat"? Check.

Streaming video? Check.

Song lyrics? Check.

I don't know what will "save" the "industry", but I'll bet it will have something to do with calling bulls**t on paying money for reports and "manifestoes" from corporate consulting firms claiming to re-invent years-old ideas that are already commonplace.

Consulting firms? Focus groups?

That is the problem with "the industry".

Are you serious? Just like saying that Detroit is going bankrupt because of greedy car salesmen.

[staudio]

People don't value music the way they used to. The future sale and distribution of music may not end up being as profitable as it was in the past, and there may be nothing anyone can do about it. I am not an apologist for copyright violators but the widespread nature of the behavior and utter disregard for the idea that it may be wrong or unfair is not going to change. We are witnessing a major cultural shift in regard to the valuation of music entertainment. Who knows, maybe one day music will be made for its own sake instead of as a product to be sold? Culture is constantly evolving.


What if there was no new music released for a year or two, would people start offering money for new music because they got bored of the old stuff? Maybe the industry needs to control the supply, create a drought or something like the oil cartels?

[PMoshay]

Originally Posted by Watersound

Music is free and we must accept it.

Not looking for a argument here, but oil is free too, so is water, and apples.
You just have to pay people for their time to get it to you.

Why do people accept that mentality? is this the next generation? Theft is ok if i say it is?....... and then people will agree with those people too?

if i figure out your bank pin# and drain some of your account, would you accept that?

I can't believe people even think this way. Let artists decide if they want to give away their music, not the public. I'm all for free music, but i'll decide what i give away, not you.

DON'T BUY INTO THE BULL THAT THIS IS HOW IT IS........ WE DETERMINE THE FUTURE. WE ARE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. THE PUBLIC ARE CUSTOMERS.
Shell oil isn't gonna loose customers because they dont give away free gas.

[Watersound]

Originally Posted by PMoshay

Not looking for a argument here, but oil is free too, so is water, and apples.
You just have to pay people for their time to get it to you.

Why do people accept that mentality? is this the next generation? Theft is ok if i say it is?....... and then people will agree with those people too?

if i figure out your bank pin# and drain some of your account, would you accept that?

I can't believe people even think this way. Let artists decide if they want to give away their music, not the public. I'm all for free music, but i'll decide what i give away, not you.

DON'T BUY INTO THE BULL THAT THIS IS HOW IT IS........ WE DETERMINE THE FUTURE. WE ARE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. THE PUBLIC ARE CUSTOMERS.
Shell oil isn't gonna loose customers because they dont give away free gas.

I agree with you, I'm just being a realist about it. With every passing day music is losing it's value...

[thethrillfactor]

Originally Posted by Darwin James

What will save the industry?

If engineers would have "Just Said No".

No to booking plastic, manufactured, talentless teen girls, and wussy boy bands from the Disney channel. Everyone else trying to be like them. And the "manufactuartists" found at the top of places like the myspace charts, heck the "talent" on MTV reality shows too while we are at it.

Just say no! Too late. (FF to 1:45 for a laugh, one baby who knows quality when she doesn't see it)



Just say no! Oh God make it stop.



"Why is our industry dying????" Gee, I wonder.

Dude first all my eleven year old niece looks up to and idolizes Selena Gomez. To me she is a good young latina role model and good at what she does on her Disney Show. Second of all just like there is music made for adults and for the college crowd there will be always music make for teenagers and kids. Every year i guarantee you as far as back as the Jacksons record labels have always focused on making music for the younger generation because its a fan base that can grow with your artist. And every year there are new kids being born so eventually they will get older and a new crop of artists will be produced just for them. Maybe its something that is tough to grasp but its business 101. There are many other artist you can choose to attack but to me that is not constructive at all. If you think the way things are set up is unfair than do something about it.

Not by bringing others down though, but building your own following up. Once you have a following and they are making noise about you record labels will come knocking. Its the way things work these days which in some ways is great for the new artists because it allows them more control on how to reach their fan base.

[rack gear]

Originally Posted by thethrillfactor

If you think the way things are set up is unfair than do something about it.

Not by bringing others down though, but building your own following up. Once you have a following and they are making noise about you record labels will come knocking.

Its the way things work these days which in some ways is great for the new artists because it allows them more control on how to reach their fan base.

right on.