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

When Will They Ever Learn? | AlwaysOn Comment on the Music Industry

Right on the money! Ain't that the truth.

When Will They Ever Learn? | AlwaysOn.

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People won't pay? Then let advertisers pay. Embed ads for BMWs on classical music sites, let GM bankroll U2's next album. and let Google embed ads on mobile music sites.

But music profits wouldn't stop there. Preload a cellphone with 1,000 of a kid's favorite songs and you'd better believe she will pick it over a competitor's phone. How much is that worth in licensing fees to Cingular or Verizon? Or, for that matter, any maker of the more than 1 billion music-enabled cellphones in the world?

Stream any song a consumer desires over a broadband connection, and how much is that worth to AOL or Comcast?

As it turns out, nearly everything consumers do -- from driving cars to clothes shopping-- seems to go better with music. And nearly all of it can be monetized.
When, for God's sake, will the music business stop its fixation on cranking out CDs and suing people, and get down to the serious business of making money?

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GL: Couldn't have said it any better. Or maybe so?

Internet brands leave music services to experts (Reuters.com) - no surprise here!

This feature below spells it out: one CANNOT be successful in digital music if all one can sell is crippleware, aka as DRM protected files. Simply because no one actually buys them!

Internet brands leave music services to experts�|�Tech&Sci�|�Internet�|�Reuters.com.

What they found was a complex market that to this day is defined by technology, device and supply problems far out of their control.

Wired News: Who's Killing MP3 and iTunes? Good feature on why the Major Labels will switch to MP3

Another Elliot van Buskirk piece - well done. A must read. imho.

Wired News: Who's Killing MP3 and iTunes?.

Amazon is rumored to start selling MP3s by April

"One of the more intriguing rumors emerging in the digital music area originated with an agent for Taylor Dane, Led Zeppelin and John Sebastien: He claims that by April 1 of next year (granted, the date makes this seem less-than-trustworthy), Amazon will launch an online music store that deals only in MP3s, although it's unknown how much major label content will be a part of that. To that end, Amazon's most powerful negotiating tool is allowing the majors to price their songs at different points -- something they have been long denied by Steve Jobs.

Check my post on this subject, and my podcast on DRM

R.I.P. CDs / Consider the alternatives to compact discs: iPods, satellite radio and hours of free or cheap digital music to download legally. Begone, bright discs and pesky cases! Begone!

Nice little feature from the SF Examiner -- my favorite quote:
Owning music is so last century.

Link: R.I.P. CDs / Consider the alternatives to compact discs: iPods, satellite radio and hours of free or cheap digital music to download legally. Begone, bright discs and pesky cases! Begone!.

Owning music is so last century.

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."

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

Music Industry does not need more protection (says Michael Geist)

Very good read here. >> "Consistent with most countries, Canada has never adopted an exclusively market-oriented approach to copyright and culture. This is reflected in our division of copyright policy responsibilities — the Copyright Act is officially administered by Industry Minister David Emerson, while the Department of Canadian Heritage Act grants responsibility for the formulation of cultural policy as it relates to copyright to Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla. This duality suggests that copyright policy must consider both economic and cultural goals. Were Industry Canada to adopt an exclusively economic-based approach, it might eliminate government programs supporting the arts on the grounds that it is the market that should determine Canadian cultural activity. Similarly, a single-minded focus by Canadian Heritage on cultural goals would risk the development of extreme copyright policies that place the interests of the culture sector ahead of the broader economy and the public interest."

Gotta love Canada - right on!!! well said.

Would you pay 5cents for a song?

The Globe and Mail (toronto) has a good report from Canadian Music Week: Sandy Pearlman has at it. I kinda like the idea --- music like water?

More on "music like water"

My co-writer Dave and me are in good company, as far as our 'Music Like Water' ideas in our book "The Future of Music" are concerned: apart from all the people that we have discussed this with over the years, and on whose shoulders we are standing, such as Jim Griffin, the EFF, and the pho-list, here's what David Bowie is saying here:

"The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. I see absolutely no point in pretending that it's not going to happen. I'm fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in 10 years, and authorship and intellectual property is in for such a bashing." "Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity," he added."So it's like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left. It's terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn't matter if you think it's exciting or not; it's what's going to happen."

 

Yes -----!

an argument for subscription

Emarketer reports that most wireless subscribers don't actually use a lot of their minutes. I think we will see very similar patters in digital music, which is also why subscription models will ultimately prevail. If you see what works, already, cable TV, cell phones, utilities, ISPs, magazines.... subscriptions WORK. my 5 c's