We all know that the recent digital era has transformed the way we listen to, buy and release music but did you know that the next few years may be crucial in defining the future of the industry and how the music makers and companies that profit from music get paid?
Luckily the conversation on this subject has been getting lots of attention lately and we are hopefully getting closer to figuring out some solutions that will help stimulate the music environment for all. The Vox just published an article on this very subject, the underlying theme – “If you want to use music, you’ve got to pay for it”.
…Money in music comes from payment. Most people, however, don’t pay for music anymore. From 2012 to 2013, purchasing physical music such as CDs and records dropped 13 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. Digital music purchases dropped 6.3 percent. That year was the third in a decade and a half in which physical music sales dropped more than 5 percent. For everyone who makes their livelihood from music, those numbers are terrifying. But they’re especially concerning to artists.
…How do you lament the fall of an industry and claim it is obsolete, yet be thrilled for its future at the same time? Well, you create technology that can fix it. How that looks, of course, varies greatly. There are technology companies like the streaming platforms that distribute songs to listeners, and there are the new companies springing up inside the traditional format of the music industry and trying to make things like publishing contracts and record label deals much more transparent and much more technology-friendly. Technology, they say, will dictate everything about the future of music, even if it’s going to be a messy, painful overthrow to get it there.
…There are three main components of the industry — infrastructure, transparency, and technology — that together could hold the key to fixing this whole mess and creating a world in which art can flourish, both creatively and financially.
Check out the rest of this must read article at Vox and leave us your thoughts on what you think can help fix music for all.
