The future of music
As you all know I'ma a Recording Industry student, and am involved in a few different groups here. I just came from a Digital Millenium Copyright Society meeting where we were talking about the future of the industry.
I can't remember his name, but we read where someone big in the industry was talking about all the lawsuits the RIAA is undergoeing with individual downloaders. They are settling out of court with them for $3000. I don't know about you, but that is a lot of money to me. And he was talking about how this is the wrong route and one of the options is to completely give up on the cd.
A lot of people have been talking about this lately, how the cd will be obsolete within a few years. Its pretty much all downloading now, and with the development of more and more sophisticated softwear to dowload HD artwork, etc, the nail is being driven into the cd rapidly.
Also discussed was how record labels may not be needed much in the future except maybe for distribution. Record labels are putting out less and less cds every year because they don't really have the money to invest in new artists. And if they do make a record with a new artist and it does less than stellar you better believe they are going to be dropped.
This brings me to do it yourself recordings. That is the way I feel the industry is moving, some bands are already working it. Have no record label, and them and a manager take care of the promotion, distribution and everything. Profits can be made this way, it has been proven, and it is very possible through the internet, especially as cds become more and more obsolete.
This personally scares me in particular. What is going to be the demand for audio engineers if everyone starts doing everything themselves. I'm certainly going to have an amazingly hard time finding a job if it keeps progressing like this, which all of the statistics seem to point toward.
Yet the record labels are trying to hang on, but not doing a very good job. Instead of adapting they are trying to fight it. That is not the correct way to go about things.
Since we're all music fans here I am curious to see what some other minds think about the issues at hand.
I can't remember his name, but we read where someone big in the industry was talking about all the lawsuits the RIAA is undergoeing with individual downloaders. They are settling out of court with them for $3000. I don't know about you, but that is a lot of money to me. And he was talking about how this is the wrong route and one of the options is to completely give up on the cd.
A lot of people have been talking about this lately, how the cd will be obsolete within a few years. Its pretty much all downloading now, and with the development of more and more sophisticated softwear to dowload HD artwork, etc, the nail is being driven into the cd rapidly.
Also discussed was how record labels may not be needed much in the future except maybe for distribution. Record labels are putting out less and less cds every year because they don't really have the money to invest in new artists. And if they do make a record with a new artist and it does less than stellar you better believe they are going to be dropped.
This brings me to do it yourself recordings. That is the way I feel the industry is moving, some bands are already working it. Have no record label, and them and a manager take care of the promotion, distribution and everything. Profits can be made this way, it has been proven, and it is very possible through the internet, especially as cds become more and more obsolete.
This personally scares me in particular. What is going to be the demand for audio engineers if everyone starts doing everything themselves. I'm certainly going to have an amazingly hard time finding a job if it keeps progressing like this, which all of the statistics seem to point toward.
Yet the record labels are trying to hang on, but not doing a very good job. Instead of adapting they are trying to fight it. That is not the correct way to go about things.
Since we're all music fans here I am curious to see what some other minds think about the issues at hand.