Innovations in Digital Music
Austin Convention Center, Friday, March 20
In response to moderator Steve Knopper’s citing the familiar anecdote of a major label exec’s declaration that the Internet is a fad, Rhapsody’s Tim Quirk quipped back, “Turns out major labels were fad,” to the delight of the room. As represented by the panel, which also included LimeWire CEO George Searle and Lala.com‘s Bill Nguyen, the only innovations in the industry are coming from the bottom rather than the top. While the represented companies all attempt to monetize digital distribution of music in various ways, they agreed that convenient consolidation of services for both fans and artists is the industry’s current need. Yet, there was also a noticeable tension and frustration between the artists in the audience and the panelists over how their companies’ revenues reach back to its contents’ creators, suggesting that while the new business models claim to alleviate online piracy, they’re more interested in simply creating platforms capitalizing on consumers’ expectations and artists’ music rather than finding more efficient and reasonable ways to better serve both. The uncertainty of businesses in the Digital Age is understandable, but pretending to help artists when only using them for your own profit is not.
This article appears in March 20 • 2009.
