The Music Man

I frequently reference music and media industries as valuable in instructing education and training. The content bottom has dropped out of both (music is reported 30+% decrease in sales over last year). While this is credited to illegal downloads, it is primarily about relationships. The music industry has isolated its user base for decades. They failed to learn the lesson of Napster’s popularity (did people want free music or did they want control over how they listened to music?). And then promptly sued their customers through RIAA. A business fighting its customers, however, has a tenuous future at best. As tools for music distribution became more prominent, channels more distributed (satellite and online stations, instead of traditional radio), and artists more able to connect directly with fans (yes, Myspace played a role here, but Prince’s experiment in giving away music should not be ignored. With this background, I read a recent NY Times article on The Music Man with interest. It’s a rather anguished look at the ailing industry. And the convulsions of last minute attempts to save its own soul. From the article: “The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don’t consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it’s just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That’s how they hear about music, bands, everything.”