[B-Chan]

Q. How can a vendor make money selling merchandise that can be identically duplicated at will?

A. He or she cannot.

Conclusion: The advent of cheap, perfect digital duplication (MP3s) and distribution (the internet) has destroyed the material-based marketing paradigm basic to the music industry.

Digital-age technology has made obsolete the machine-age idea of "music" as a physical object (record, tape, CD, etc.) From now on, recorded music is free -- and the musicians who make should spend their time and efforts thinking of ways to profit in an environment that reflects that fact. Those that fail to do so will vanish.

And there's no stopping this trend. The genie is out of the bottle. From this point on, musicians (and other performing artists) can no longer consider themselves in the business of selling recordings of their works; because the cost of reproducing such recordings is effectively zero, the market value of physical recordings themselves is zero. In the future, musicians will make money either on a service basis (by performing their works in person) or a royalty basis (licensing official merchandise related to their works -- books, t-shirts, dolls, toys, etc.). The days of an artist and his/her label getting rich from the proceeds of a million-seller are fast drawing to a close; nothing "sells" anymore (all the merchandise is free) , and anybody can own a "label" (a distribution website).

The bad news is that this will destroy the music industry as we know it.
The good news is that this will destroy the music industry as we know it.


Artists and industries who fight this trend may win in the short term, but will lose in the long term. The RIAA is a modern-day association of buggywhip manufacturers; nothing they do will stop consumers from downloading files, burning disks, and swapping music with their friends. In a world where every house has its own digital milk-cow, the dealer in livestock is sure to disappear.

And later, when computers as we know them are replaced by "e-paper" (paper-thin sheets of printed circuitry capable of displaying moving or still color images downloaded from the internet), the print industry will face a similar Ragnarok.

(Note: I myself am a professional artist and do not download MP3 files containing music, patronize swapping sites, or burn copies of CDs for other people.)

[Conservative4Ever]

thanks for your thoughts...you have stated it very clearly. It begs the question...how do the artists get compensation for their creative works? Each artist have a website for downloading songs at a nominal fee? This would of course eliminate the record company as we know it...not necessarily a bad thing. The artist would have to stand on his work..not the promotional engine of the record label. Promoters for live concerts would encourage quality material and showmanship to create a fan base. I agree the artist should be remunerated for his artistic effort, but how to achieve this fair and equitable solution is a problem.

Red

[Not Insane]

>>From now on, recorded music is free -- and the musicians who make should spend their time and efforts thinking of ways to profit in an environment that reflects that fact. Those that fail to do so will vanish. <<

Precicely. Those who try to stop it will and should be labelled ludites.

I am a musician and do not expect the sale of recorded music to be a source of income.

[discostu]

Of course once the bottom drops out of the CD market then the bottom will drop out of the entire music industry. Without the CD to push a band will no longer be able to build the reputation necessary to have a large profitable tour (where the real money for the band has always been). Then it's bye bye full time music makers, making music will once again be a hobby that some people do during their free time.

All this because some people just don't understand what the word "theft" means.

[Sofa King]

Actually, we're not headed into any new territory here: we're headed back into old territory.

We're getting back to how things were in Mozart's time.

The truth is, if record companies want to survive, they need to lower prices and concentrate on artists who can create a long-term fanbase.

[Mamzelle]

How does this affect the sales of computer-based games?