The Economist: Music Wants To Be Free

[DudeAsInCool]

The music giants are trying DRM-free downloads. Lots of smaller labels already sell music that way. Having seen which way the wind is blowing, Mr Jobs now wants to be seen not as DRM’s defender, but as a consumer champion who helped in its downfall. Wouldn’t it lead to a surge in piracy? No, because most music is still sold unprotected on CDs, people wishing to steal music already can do so. Indeed, scrapping DRM would probably increase online-music sales by reducing confusion and incompatibility. With the leading online store, Apple would benefit most. Mr Jobs’s argument, in short, is transparently self-serving. It also happens to be right.

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Related article at the Global Tech Forum

Free phone calls over the net, free email services, free news and now, free music? As VoIP provider Skype and its ilk hammer the telecoms industry and Google News does the same to newspapers, the world’s growing appetite for free music downloads now has the global music industry on the defensive.

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[DudeAsInCool]

In a related article, Corrante reviews the new book by Gerd Leonhard and Dave Kusek, authors of "The Future of Music":

"The record industry as we know it is dying, but the music industry is exploding" write authors Gerd Leonhard and Dave Kusek in their new book, "The Future of Music." Due to the digitization of music and the possibilities that digital media technologies afford, Leonhard and Kusek see a future where more musicians, more artists and more companies will share in a bigger pie.

In their book, the authors envision a future in which a good portion of digital music is provided via a utility-type arrangement - like water or electricity -, for a flat monthly payment, rather than sold ‘by the unit’ (i.e. as single downloads). The authors predict a promotion engine not driven from the top-down (i.e. by music industry tastemakers and kingmakers), but from the bottom up - by online music communities with members eager to share, and to communicate with each other about new artists.

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I imagine this world will exist along a world where media continues to be free

[method77]

I hate in depth analysis when the matter is very simple.

DRM will never work. The music industry as we know it today will die. Artists will profit more without the involvement of the big boys. It is as simple as that.

The sure thing is that music will continue be put out there and small artists now have the chance to be heard globally as long as they make good music

[DudeAsInCool]

I hate in depth analysis when the matter is very simple.

DRM will never work. The music industry as we know it today will die. Artists will profit more without the involvement of the big boys. It is as simple as that.

The sure thing is that music will continue be put out there and small artists now have the chance to be heard globally as long as they make good music

The first article dealt with DRM, but when combined with the other two, the trio explore the breakdown of the existing marketplace and a world that many people already inhabit of free media.

The big problem emerging artists face. How do they market themselves in a world where entertainment choices are many, and how do they sustain themselves?

[method77]

The big problem emerging artists face. How do they market themselves in a world where entertainment choices are many, and how do they sustain themselves?

the answer is very simple. Make good music and you will be known. How do you think indie labels did it all these years? Those labels didn't have free promotion (internet) yet the really good bands made it out there.

BTW is it a rule that music artists MUST get rich? No.

[DudeAsInCool]

BTW is it a rule that music artists MUST get rich? No.

I never said 'rich' - I said 'sustain' themselves

[rainbowdemon]

I never said 'rich' - I said 'sustain' themselves

Indeed!!The day of the multi-millionaire musician churning out whatever kind of crap that sells is almost over.