This is one of the more interesting takes on the music industry I have seen in print, from Topspin CEO Ian Rogers.
It's a reminder that just because the old guard loses, that doesn't mean there is an industry in duress.
Insert whatever industry you want into this paradigm. The US auto industry, typesetters, buggy whips, boxed software, railroads, long distance. The music industry is thriving. It's just that the money is going elsewhere.
My favorite blurb:
"The lamenting we read in the press is not the story of the new music business. Continuing to talk about the health of the music industry on these terms is as if we’d all been crying about the dying cassette business in 1995. The difference is that when we moved from cassette to CD the winners were the same (big companies who owned access to cash, distribution, and marketing) and the definition of winning was the same (more units sold for these big companies)."
According to the most recent RIAA stats that I could find, I'd like to just point out that vinyl LP sales were up 36.6% in 20007 over 2006. There's your old guard ;)
Posted by: Agent45 | November 19, 2008 at 03:06 PM
Those are retro winners! :)
Posted by: Mike | November 19, 2008 at 04:11 PM