An interesting article in the Economist this week highlighted the record industry's pains in a new light, fueled by a quote from Edgar Bronfman, the chairman of Warner Music, that went as follows..."The music industry is growing. The record industry is not growing." And looking at the stats, it makes perfect sense. Concert revenues have increased from $1.7 billion in 2000 to $3.1 billion in 2006. The Economist uses the Police as an example as to how focusing on performances and merchandising can help the record labels recover a least a little bit...top seats for the Police's comeback tour can reach up to $900, while all of their records can be purchased for around $100.
As the CD finally dies (took long enough...geez) the money music fans would have been spending on albums can now be pushed into concerts and merchandise, creating a strange universe in which albums now promote tours, as opposed to tours being treated as massive ads for the album.
There's Mr. Brofman...he's looks surprisingly un-evil for a record exec.
1 comment:
Steven Wilson mentioned that he thinks albums will eventually be given out for free (since so many people download for free anyways) in order to promote shows.
Interesting theory, but I would be (and I assume SW would be as well) ticked if the physical product died. :(
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