The Bottom Line
December 14, 2003
Are Record Companies Efficient?

On my post on Steve Jobs and music, Randall Parker posted a comment that concluded,


If the record companies are so incredibly inefficient then we should see big successes coming from artists who never signed a contract with a record label. After all, there's the internet. Maybe that will happen some day. But so far I do not see it happening very often.

My guess is that the legacy music industry hangs on because of issues like this:

Sending a song or a photo around the world can take just a few clicks and a few seconds, but if you merely want to send the same MP3 or JPEG file to the stereo or television in your living room, forget it.

Digital convergence has not really happened yet for the typical consumer. The car radio, home stereo, and jogging headphones that most people have are not readily compatible with downloaded music. Once that changes, I think that the music industry will "tip" away from the big music companies.

Posted by Arnold at 9:46 AM | Email this entry | Category: economics of content
  Comments and Trackbacks

I think the music industry believes this too. That is why they are pushing so hard for DRM and copy controls and the rest of it. The longer they can hold off digital convergence (or at least the more clicks and annoyances they can put in the way), the longer they can survive.

Posted by Ravi Nanavati on December 14, 2003 11:36 AM | Permalink to Comment

Many of those artists are succeeding. At least they are succeeding from the point of view that they make more money then they would have if they had signed. I don't think any of them is as famous. They do not expect to be so famous. Many of them are still better off for not signing.

Posted by mattj on December 17, 2003 11:13 AM | Permalink to Comment

Join the Linux community. Linuxwaves.net

Posted by Margaret on July 6, 2004 03:59 AM | Permalink to Comment

  Email this entry to a friend
 
Email this entry to:   
Your email address:   
Message (optional):   
 

  Related Entries