Just finishing up the latest analysis of the recording industry’s trials and tribulation, Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age by Steve Knopper. If you’ve bought a CD or downloaded music in the last 30 years, you’re in this book as part of the machine that helped to shape the current state of the record business. Knopper does a nice job of laying out 8 specific things the industry did to shoot itself in the legs and while you may think that digital downloads alone caused CD sales to fall annually, he tells a more detailed story of how corporate underestimation, egos, mistakes and technology led to falling sales. But it really is a larger picture. Aside from reigning in the bloated egos prevalent in the entertainment industry, it’s hard to see what control the labels had in the battle against free or low-priced product in the digital age. Intellectual property has met its match and here we are.
I have a friend who is in the newspaper business and he is worried. Papers are falling as fast as the stock market these days. They are also in the business of selling intellectual property. There was probably less excessive optimism among paper owners but, like the recording industry, they didn’t see this coming and even if they did what can you do? On an open market for content, I can read the same story for free on any number of sites. It’s fun to be an observer in a revolution. We can sit back and watch these industries struggle to overcome demise with business models or technology aimed at keeping their head above water. Net Nuetrality? Subscription Internet? Embedded Advertising? What? The local paper now has reporters putting up a video “Newsbreak”on their website to ostensibly give the reader added value, or to see the advertising on the site, or to see seasoned journalists struggling to be on-air talent and compete with on-air talent. I thought of the labels when I viewed “Newsbreak” -
it ain’t pretty but you gotta love the effort.
It’s kind of sad to see traditional media disappearing. But at the same time, I feel rationally compelled to embrace the efficiency, immediacy and powerful reach of digital media and the Internet. Times are changing, and very hopefully for the better… Sadly, it makes me feel like listening to “Imagine” by John Lennon. You can listen to it on fight music.
Comment by Fred — September 19, 2009 @ 8:12 pm
i feel rationally compelled to embrace the efficiency, immediacy and powerful reach of digital media and the Internet. Times are changing, and very hopefully for the better
Comment by khaled — December 15, 2009 @ 9:12 am