great article on state of the music industry

[barstu]

I envisage online music will one day move onto a new phase where revenue from recorded music could rise again. I think as internet bandwidths get faster and faster and more players are wi-fi/browser enabled, we could move to an "online catalogue" model. Where all our music is stored not on your PC / ipod but on a central network location. Our portable media players would be considered more of a cache drive than somewhere you store all your music. We wouldn't pay per download rather pay to upgrade our online collection, maybe increase the bitrate here add a remixed version of a tune here. I believe a useable, affordable system like this might put off people downloading music illegally and then worrying about tagging / syncing it to all your devices manually.

[Angstrom]

the issue is not about illegal downloads as such, but that the perceived value of music as a purchasable commodity has gone down.

think of it like this:

When clothes could only be made by tailors they were very expensive, most people only had one set of rough clothes. A set of clothes might cost a months wages for the average person. Tailors lived geographically local to the consumer though the raw materials often came (expensively) across the globe.

The restriction of the means and materials of production meant that the product was charged at a premium

Now, clothes are made in bulk to an adequate standard in the developing world and shipped globally. A purchaser can buy a full set of clothes for less than £150, effectively 10% of their monthly wage.

there is still a market for 'bespoke tailoring' , but it is small and 'elite'

will there ever be a time when every Asda / Walmart shopper buys their clothes from a tailor again? Even if every tailor in the world has a spot on tailor.com ? nope.

[forge]

all the more reason the solution is likely to be a subscription based model

I agree - people would probably be prepared to pay a subscription to a music catalogue - like pay tv - so that they can just download whatever new music they like from their provider

I know I'd probably rather include a music sub in my broadband monthly rental (which is probably how it would best be done - esp. considering Broadband is the chief cause of music piracy) than mess about with Limewire etc

dont know about you but downloading an album from those p2p things is an irritating pain in the arse most of the time, you always end up missing 2 tracks from the album and 3 of them are 128k 2 are 160, 2 are 320 and one says it's 256 but is really 64

and I never have the money to spare to buy albums

Broadband costs are coming down all the time and I've been thinking of shopping around and either getting ADSL2+ or bigger d/l limit

I'd be happy to just keep my monthly cost as is but include a music sub in it instead of getting cheaper broadband and legally d/l my music

[scientist]

the issue is not about illegal downloads as such, but that the perceived value of music as a purchasable commodity has gone down.

exactly. mp3 blogs, free cds (like mentioned in the above article), etc go even further than p2p in devaluing music. with p2p at least you use it knowing that what you are doing is stealing, and if you steal something that means it has value.

to make matters worse re: angstrom's point: not only do we have a bunch of cd and vinyl buyers now finding they can get music for free, we'll soon be in an era where the potential customers have never had to buy music. music has always been free for them so why should they ever have to pay for it.

[kramerica]

the beatles started that tradition in 1966 changing it the other way, beginning the era of the studio album, and now we are witnessing the reversal

You mispelled "The Beach Boys" but you were right with 1966. That's when Pet Sounds was released.

[forge]

the beatles started that tradition in 1966 changing it the other way, beginning the era of the studio album, and now we are witnessing the reversal

You mispelled "The Beach Boys" but you were right with 1966. That's when Pet Sounds was released.

I was referring to abandoning live performance in favour of studio albums - that had to be more profound in the Beatles case, apart from anything they did it so they didn't get lynched over the jesus comment!

[Malaysia]

In response to never having to pay for music. It's all about what is accessable. Buying tracks digitally will never replace the artistic worth or feel that vinyl or CD has. Although the music is there & in a more pristine & universal form I know I like seeing all of the dedication that was put even further into the production of the album than just the music. The art itself in not only sonic, but in a physical form as well. I don't see the formats disappearing as vinyl & CDs will always remain for the physical worth & characteristics that they have. There will just be a permanent significant decrease in overall usage. Vinyls are still around because they are difficult to find & so many tracks that are on & exclusive to vinyl that have yet to be put on CD let alone d/lable format are available in an existing format. Hell I'd go searching high & low for some shitty cassettes if they had unreleased tracks from Orbital on them. Throughout time CDs will become like vinyl has-an awesome rarity which like the vinyl will increase in value after it is used less. We wouldn't be paying for music if it was unobtainable in the first place. The politics comes into play of course with how much value people place on a medium. If MP3s were more expensive than CDs just because of their much more universal form the CD wouldn't see as much of a negative turnout. However if dumb ignorant corporate cd based scumpanies would've embraced the new technology in the first place & from it coming so soon they wouldn't have dug such a deep hole for themselves. Overall were merely just seeing before what happened to vinyl. The companies that learn to adapt & thrive to the changes will survive. Great thread. Possible idiot ranting. Lol :\.