Gerd Leonhard's Blog on The Future of Music, Media & Entertainment

Wired: P2P: Music's Death Knell or Boon?

as usual... great coverage by Wired. Nice quote by Ted Cohen:
"We're at an inflection point here where we have a real chance to change the way the music business works," said Ted Cohen, senior VP of digital development and distribution for EMI Music. "We're interested in making sure everyone survives. I think this will be an interesting year and a turning point."

"The Future of Music": CORANTE Interview with Gerd Leonhard and Dave Kusek

From CORANTE "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. Depending on your point of view, that statement may sound alarming, pie-in-the sky, wise, or simply wrong. Yet through their experiences, both Kusek and Leonhard have earned the right to weigh in. Kusek is co-developer of the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) standard to enable musicians to record in inexpensive home studios. In 1993, Kusek worked with A&M Records to design and develop the first commercially available enhanced CD able to connect audio CDs to a PC. And Leonhard has high-level experience on the executive, entrepreneurial, and creative sides of the music industry. In 1997, he founded and served as CEO of LicenseMusic.com, a company that until 2002, streamlined music licensing for such clients as Disney, Paramount Pictures, and Fox TV.

Corante recently sat down with Gerd and Dave to talk about the future of the music industry in this digital era....

The fairest Digital Music Model (pdf)

by Todd Beals --- good overview. download here

Renting versus owning music - take 3

The debate on Napster To Go versus ITunes goes on and on, with many people wondering if a RENTING music model (a la Netflix for movies) will prevail, or a Buy Per Track model (ITunes). The debates are useful but not quite getting down to the bottom of things yet. A quick 2 points on this:

1) It's not either or (never is). Rather, I think users will rent for a cheap monthly fee that has them covered (see music like water), PLUS they will download individual tracks, and still buy CDs and DVDs. However, the difference is that with a SUBSCRIPTION model I can get a lot more people into buying music, at all - rather than 40% of people leaving the stores without buying, how about covering 80% of all consumers with a cheap flat-rate music subscription. This is where Napster wants to go, I'd say.

2) Guess what: you don't really OWN your tracks on ITunes, either -- there IS DRM on these tracks, and your rights to 'own' CAN be revoked --- it just feels like you own it since most people won't get near the limits that Apple's DRM (Fairplay) imposes on them. Fact is, though - we are just renting here, as well. Why else would people try to crack it?

More on Napster here

Paper on Peer-to-Peer Networking and Digital Rights Management: How Market Tools Can Solve Copyright Problems

Great paper by Michael A. Einhorn and Bill Rosenblatt

Michael A. Einhorn is the author of Media, Technology, and Copyright: Integrating Law and Economics(2004) and senior adviser to an international consulting firm. Bill Rosenblatt is president of GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies, managing editor of the newsletter DRM Watch  and author of Digital Rights Management: Business and Technology (2001).

Iris Distribution

"IRIS acts as a liaison between independent labels and digital music retailers. We service both parties by providing legal, technical and marketing assistance as well as collective bargaining power for the label..."  seems like all the interesting stuff is still happening in San Francisco.... check it out

WILL am 580 radio show with Jack Brighton: interview with Gerd Leonhard and Dave Kusek

                        THE FUTURE OF MUSIC: MANIFESTO FOR THE DIGITAL MUSIC REVOLUTION, David Kuzek, Vice President, Berklee College of Music and Gerd Leonhard, music futurist and founder of Think and Link; Jack Brighton guest host. Website  Real Audio  MP3 download

Report: Darknet : Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation

A promising new publication by JD Lassica.

The Engadget Interview: Chris Gorog, CEO of Napster

here.  I will comment on this later...

Firefighter Phone has extra loud ringtone

ha!