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Category Archives: strategy
#IRespectMusicFans
Musicians seem to be on a permanent campaign for more money, and a larger share of whatever’s going. There’s no doubt it’s tough to make a living in music. There are more musicians than there are living wages, and as an … Continue reading
Three Reasons Why Indie Music Will Thrive
There’s a professional and independent music industry, sandwiched in between the largest corporate and VC funded businesses, and the hobbyist and part time music makers. It is vitally important as a repository of skills and cultural memory, as the guardian of … Continue reading
Spotify Cannibalises iTunes; Universal Cannibalises Music
Universal Music has been turning in some very unimpressive numbers for parent Vivendi over the last few years. Traditionally record companies blame everyone other than themselves for their failures (I did a brief survey some years ago here). Now in the … Continue reading
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A Global Release Day is the Wrong Kind of Globalisation
Big record labels are gearing up to move their release scheduling so that all new records come out on a Friday at a minute past midnight. They argue that everyone knows anyway through social media when a record is released; that record … Continue reading
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The Dog in the Manger
Nobody ever claims to have contributed to a traffic jam, despite all the evidence around them when they are doing so. And clearly had they not contributed, the jam would have been less of a delay for everyone, especially them. … Continue reading
Posted in markets, regulation, strategy
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Digital Music in 2015
Some ‘state of the nation’ observations about where we seem to be at the end of 2014 in the world of digital music: 1. Only an extreme optimist would make a meaningful bet on the recorded music industry as a … Continue reading
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Streaming Payouts Need Some Simple Tweaks
Continued debate about how to share revenue generated by on-demand music streaming services is less enlightening than it could be, mostly because it is conducted in an almost information free context. We don’t really know how much money is being … Continue reading
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GRD? More Like GOELRO, Comrade!
Music industry watchers will have noted the recent demise of the Global Repertoire Database (GRD), a project so misconceived that its collapse should more properly be greeted with relief than hand wringing and woe. Some background. In 2008 EU Commissioner Neelie … Continue reading
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The New Starmakers, and the Story of a Song
Spotify took to its blog October 2014 to let the world know that if the ants have megaphones, in Chris Anderson’s rather superior phrase, Spotify’s megaphone is bigger. A ‘curated playlist’ had driven a track up the charts in the … Continue reading
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Of Course a Stream is a Lost Track Sale…
The long drawn out crisis in the recorded music industry continues, and one of the much debated questions is whether people are subscribing to streaming services instead of buying downloads and CDs. If they are, the worry is that the … Continue reading
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