Craig Havighurst (listen to his interview on Music Business Radio) has some interesting thoughts on file sharing...
This is good stuff that anybody should read...especially songwriters and music executives in Nashville. The black and white thinking that these guys exhibit isn't necessarily a bad thing, but as the music industry changes, it's certainly something that will affect how much money is made in the future.
Look, people are downloading music for free. We haven't been able to stop that and playing to the morals of people doesn't seem to be working. However, the issue is easy to fix. All that needs to be done is make it easier to pay for music than get it for free.
iTunes is great. Get on, type in what you want, and they've got a good quality recording of it. AllOfMP3 did the same thing. And this is only going to get better as more and more wireless appliances are created. Music is background noise for doing other things, you know.
When you can have the ease or getting something in one place, in just a few seconds, why would anybody go to a file sharing service?
Price.
But this is something that can be fixed. Look at the success of AllOfMP3. People happily paid what they were asking. We just have to develop a pricing model that makes sure everybody is paid.
This is coming. The big time business interests which own publishing catalogs and master recordings aren't going to just sit around and leave money on the table. Until then though, let's stop with the doom and gloom. There are plenty of good things that come along with people being able to share music freely.
Comments