tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571176563576175599.post5903305466599275208..comments2007-06-22T15:17:35.255-07:00Tom Higleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00644786207925744039noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571176563576175599.post-1311538051603247512007-06-21T12:49:00.000-07:002007-06-21T12:49:00.000-07:00It’s amazing how short of memory the music industry has, and how they can't get out of their own hole. I say it's their own hole because of 2 things they did to change the industry. 1) The single song model of sale used to be the primary sales model, it was dying in the cassette days, and got killed by the CD by not having/pushing singles at a price consumers felt good about . 2) They killed the previous long tail distribution (aka record stores) by making huge sales deals with Big Box stores (& allowing the Big Boxes like Target to sell all music as a lost leader).saybohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13203694715020736875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571176563576175599.post-67841871581983849652007-06-21T10:18:00.000-07:002007-06-21T10:18:00.000-07:00Nicely put, Tom.<BR/><BR/>I would add another thought as well:<BR/><BR/>At the conference, several speakers mentioned how this generation expects major companies to "give back" and also to be somewhat altruistic in their approach. As one presenter put it, "If you aren't being genuine, teens will pick up on that in an instant and you'll be discarded."<BR/><BR/>So, on that thought, let's think about what the majors have done "for" (TO!) the music industry:<BR/><BR/>1) Shoved "stars" down our throats. - Do you really think Britney Spears comes from the same musical development line as the Beatles, Elvis, etc.? - So, yeah... where are our new stars? - I doubt the majors could ever find them.<BR/><BR/>2) Kept prices high on CDs after promising that "prices would drop after initial development costs were recouped", etc. etc. - It's well known that the cost of mass-distribution of CDs is grossly out of line with what they charge. (Anyone remember the lawsuits for CD over-pricing?)<BR/><BR/>3) Smaller labels chose to give opportunities to more experimental acts - and (crazily enough) nurture good young talent that was often snapped up by the larger labels. (Remember when "Farm Labels" were all the rage?) - Seems like that was a pretty good sign the majors had lost their touch at finding "stars", eh?<BR/><BR/>4) Forced musicians to foot an inordinately large bill for ALL of their development. - Is there any other business model that involves forcing the "product" to fund the product's own development? - (Imagine asking Hollywood stars to foot all of the production for the blockbuster movies they are in!)<BR/><BR/>... and the list goes on and on.<BR/><BR/>Perhaps this isn't a "technical" enough analysis - but my gut tells me it's just karma coming back and kicking some ass.Grandpa Mojohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07945287615938361159noreply@blogger.com