Embrace digital or die
Oct 8th, 2007 by dabloguiman
Music industry warned it will not survive if it continues to rely on CD sales alone.
According to Guy Hands, the new owner of EMI, Britain’s largest music group:
The recorded music industry… has for too long been dependent on how many CDs can be sold. Rather than embracing digitalisation and the opportunities it brings for promotion of product and distribution through multiple channels, the industry has stuck its head in the sand.
Is it too late for the music industry to recover? I am sure the RIAA would like to believe it is not. But then again, they also thought digital distribution as a business would never take off.
Hi, I’m the marketing manager at TuneCore - one of the country’s premiere digital music aggregators.
The industry isn’t going anywhere, but it IS being completely redefined in favor of the artists. I’m happy to hear news about Radiohead and NIN pulling away from labels in order to claim their own rights and royalties. It’s great that musician’s are strong enough to think for themselves and that the industry is becoming such that artists can fend for themselves financially without the backing of/being robbed by labels.
TuneCore is founded on the premise that aritsts are making the music and therefore deserve to keep the money. Our model allows artists to keep every cent of the money they’re making - all we ask is a small up-front fee to cover the cost of delivery and the rest of the sales each artist makes is theirs to keep.
Coming soon, we will offer live accounting where our artists who are being sold in iTunes US can track their sales and trace them geographically. Meaning, the artists can literally see for themselves in what cities and states their music is selling best. We’re really excited about this and also to see what the artists are able to do with information like that, in terms of marketing and promoting themselves.
Thanks for posting this - I’m always happy to see news about the revolution taking place in the world of music right now.
Best,
Mary Barbour
Marketing Manager
TuneCore