COMMENT: The Decline of the Music Business.

In a recent Rolling Stone report, the magazine looked at the ever declining Record business, and how industry experts are proposing the new era of the music industry should look. They have five or so suggestions for the record labels to help them succeed in the digital age. And although they had some great suggestions, I would like to offer my insight to the conundrum.

First and Foremost - Rolling Stone had a suggestion that all music should be offered "ad-supported". This meant that music downloads should basically be free for the consumer while generating advertising revenue at all of the free music outlets. While this might seem like a good idea there are a few flaws to the logic, and I don't see it being the savior of the dying labels. The ad-revenue will just not be enough, and what's to say once person A gets the music for free he won't just email the .mp3 file to all his friends who will never even see the advertising, or visit the outlet.

Essentially the problem is the value of music in the digital age has become nearer and nearer to zero all the time. Prior to the CD and the .mp3, recorded music had value if only because it was the highest quality recording. Every time a consumer made a copy of a recorded piece of music - the quality was worse, and worse so the original had an intrinsic value. Not so today - any Joe Schmoe with a computer can created the highest quality lossless copy of original recordings and give them away essentially de-valuing the original. Why would I pay for the CD when the only thing of real value anymore is the artwork? The simple answer to this: Make all music free to the consumer. It is the only answer.

Think of it in these terms, if music has no monetary value anymore, why must I keep "selling it"? Instead, why not find some other value for it? I could see giving away music as a huge marketing campaign supporting all the other offerings an artist has at their disposal. Licensing, product endorsements, live performance; these are all things that can and do support artists everyday without ever selling records. It means that instead of trying to market and sell an item that has no value (recorded music), the artists would market and sell something else that does have value, themselves. They would become their own brand, and generate revenue from this source. And what better way to make sure everyone in the world knew who you were, than to give something away for free?

What do you think is the answer for the music business? Leave a comment and discuss...

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