The Future of the Music Industry

I've been chatting with many different people in the last year about the state of the industry, and how I believe techonology has always been the catalyst for change. From printed sheet music to radio to phonographic records and so on, the business has survived large scale paradigm shifts in the past. (I mean, seriously, from traveling troubadors to a commodified product, what can match that in terms of scale? If anything the internet is suceeding in reversing the commodification of music. I really believe we need to reconsider that idea. Is music a commodity to be bough and sold?) Between studying Marxist aesthetics and writing for the Silent Ballet, not to mention interacting with my friends in various sectors of the music industry, I have come to regard the interference of capitalist structures with the ritualistic side of music as very troubling. Anyway, for more of my musing on these issues, see my upcoming interview with From Monument to Masses (monument-masses.com) on The SIlent Ballet. (thesilentballet.com)

But now to the point. When people ask me, "well, what do you think is going to happen? People clearly are less inclined to buy music, blah blah blah" I've supported an idea that others have pitched, some form of subscription service, an updated library of sorts. People will go to live concerts, trade music, buy records and t-shirts as souvenirs, and subscribe to services that give them unlimited listening access as a reasonable price (like we do with cable or something.) An article in the New Yorker about classical music several months ago described a similar system in place for classical music enthustiasts. ("The Well Tempered Web," 10/22 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/22/071022fa_fact_ross?currentPage=all)


So the in that context, check out the latest news from Last.fm. Very interesting.
(http://blog.last.fm/2008/01/23/free-the-music)