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Music Bigwigs Speak on the Industry

Spotted on: Yahoo

2007 was an interesting year for the music business.? Music sales were up, and almost all of that boost came from digital downloads.? Physical sales took a whopping turn for the worse.? The AP asked a couple of industry-types what their take was, and here are some of the highlights:

“Big” Jon Platt, EMI: “…the problem, is that everyone is trying to fix the old model, and that’s obviously not working, so we need to build on a new model… The business itself has to get back into artist development…We just have to be creative in thinking of ways to grow an artist.”

50 Cent, Rap Superstar: “The actual record sales may be changing but people are actually getting the material the best way they can and coming out to see the show…When you have a record that doesn’t connect right away, if the company doesn’t have a passion behind an actual artist and feel like this kid is an actual star and support it, it’s just going to whither away.”

Michael McDonald, ATO Records: “The bottom line is if anyone had a simple answer, it would be in motion already…I do think music is as relevant and there’s more music out there than ever before…Everyone is looking for a solution, but the solution does not look like the music business has looked for the last 30 years.”

Mark Cuban, Sports Team Owner: “They sell music and they need to be everywhere and anywhere music generates revenue…their ultimate solution may be in reducing the price of CDs to under $5 across the board and building artists in order to monetize everywhere else.”

Bottom Line:? Even successful music business people are completely lost to what’s next.

Yahoo! Toys with Selling MP3s

Yahoo!, who owns and operates Yahoo! Music – a digital distribution store built with Microsofts ‘Plays For Sure’ DRM technology, is toying with the idea of selling unprotected, DRM-Free MP3s. In a recent survey, they asked participants the following question:

“Would you consider paying $1.09 for a single, unrestricted MP3 download that would have absolutely no limitations on its use and could be transferred to any portable audio player or computer?”

Don’t get hung up on the price. To me that’s irrelevant. The fact that not only a major content distributor would consider MP3, but is willing to face down Apple and the Big 4 Labels is a major step forward. Though you could liken it to DRM poisoning the water supply and suppliers are now going to sell ‘clean’ water on the side, I consider this to be a bold move on their part, and since Polyvibe Records distributes music with them as part of a larger digital distribution deal, I am awaiting their next announcement concerning this with much anxiousness.

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