Economics | creative deconstruction

Spain Says File Sharing is Legal – Obama Says “Your Wrong”

Posted on 12. May, 2009 by refe.

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Now Obama’s transformation from free-culture savior to copyright lobbyist bulldog appears to be complete. A few months ago the Spanish government ruled that personal use file-sharing is legal and that the sites that host file sharing are protected as long as they don’t directly profit from copyright infringment. The Obama Whitehouse is not happy about this.

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Why Bands Need to Completely Change the Way They Think

Posted on 12. Apr, 2009 by refe.

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For decades the economy of the music industry revolved around the Album. Record labels built their empires on them. Artists’ careers could be measured in release dates. Fans would often wait for years for their favorite band’s latest masterpiece. Touring was also seen primarily as a way of supporting the release of a band’s latest [...]

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Bands Offer to Pay Fans to Download New Album

Posted on 10. Apr, 2009 by refe.

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Those who believe that free downloads have devalued music are going to love this: In an effort to stand out from the flood of free music pouring onto the Internet these days, indie band Officer Roseland recently offered to pay fans $1 to download their new album Stimulus Package. At MyStimulusPackage.org, fans can either take [...]

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Cable on its way to Becoming Obsolete

Posted on 02. Apr, 2009 by refe.

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The cable industry’s annual trade convention is going on this week, and the big topic of discussion this year is the Internet. According to yesterday’s article in the Chicago Tribune, Cable has watched the Music and Newspaper industries struggle to adapt to the digital world, and there has been a lot of talk about how [...]

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Bands offer Pay What You Want Merchandise

Posted on 02. Apr, 2009 by refe.

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One of my favorite blogs posted about a few bands who have taken a ‘Pay what you want’ approach to selling merchandise. Radiohead was the first high-profile act to use this model when they offered their In Rainbows album to be downloaded with an open price tag from the band’s website, and since then many [...]

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7 Things Record Labels Can Do to Stay in Business (a little longer)

Posted on 30. Mar, 2009 by refe.

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1. Diversify your product offerings -The value of recorded music now rests largely in its effectiveness in promoting a complete experience. What people want today is to experience their favorite artists’ music in a much fuller way than was previously available. To capitalize on this, find a way to package and monetize different elements of [...]

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Why You Should Run Your Band Like a Business

Posted on 27. Mar, 2009 by refe.

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I talked previously about the way that declining record sales have hurt the major record labels, and how this presents an incredible opportunity for artists to strike out on their own. It’s a shame that it has taken the deconstruction of an entire industry to make this possible, but I suppose if it didn’t I’d be [...]

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Dropping Record Sales Free Bands to Go into Business for Themselves

Posted on 27. Mar, 2009 by refe.

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Record labels have built their businesses on the profitability of recorded music, and until recently it was a pretty lucrative business to be in. Because artists couldn’t afford to produce their own recordings they were forced to be dependent on the major labels, and the Majors became the all-powerful gatekeepers of the Music Industry. Now, [...]

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Why Music Streaming Will Not Destroy Music

Posted on 26. Mar, 2009 by refe.

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Business Week ran an article recently that talks about the “problem” of online music streaming services. The article claims that while online streaming was initially intended to promote music, and therefore promote the purchasing of music, it has actually had the opposite effect. The author describes a 23 year old man who has gone from spending [...]