'Off the record', Prospect Magazine (the economics of pop music)

Link: 'Off the record', Prospect Magazine issue 137 August 2007 - Printer Friendly Article.

"In recent years, the economics of pop music have been upended. The market for CDs has collapsed, and not even the rise of legal downloading can offset the damage to record companies. Meanwhile, demand for live performances has rocketed..."

Comments

[John]

One of the side effects of the new economy is though digital work stations have made making music easy and economically feasible for anyone with a computer, and the internet has made the distribution of music a more egalitarian undertaking, no one will make money on the music unless they perform it live.

We then get to the quality of this live performance; do you want to hear a digitally reproduced "perfect" version of what you have on your McIpod, which a lot of the big names do through the use of hard drives on stage, or would you rather hear a great artist's interpretation and improvisation on her own music? IOW, Madonna or BB King...

I also find it odd that a world class jazz musician, who spends as much time on his craft as a classical musician (and usually more) finds it hard to make 1/2 of the same nightly fee that a club DJ makes playing mp3's in a nightclub 3 blocks away from said jazzman.

Interesting times to be a music fan.