Music industry shifts to being a service? Good news, bad news…
Originally published at Sara Trice. You can comment here or there.
Here’s an interesting read from Ars Technica:
Did file-sharing cause recording industry collapse? Economists say no
The most interesting paragraph I see in this article is this one:
So what is emerging is an increasingly “ephemeral” global music culture based not upon the purchasing of discrete physical packages of music, but on the discovery and subsequent promotion of musicians through file sharing. The big winner in this model is not the digital music file seller, but the touring band, whose music is easily discoverable on the ‘Net. As with so much of the rest of the emerging world economy, the shift is away from buying things and towards purchasing services-in this case tickets to concerts and related activities.
So I have to wonder - to my friends (and my husband) who count on selling merch at their unpaid performances - is this a game changer? Will musicians from now on be ultimately unable to make a living unless they go on the road - and stay there?