Bob Rhubart's Blog

Big Music's Broken Record

A very interesting article on the holes in the music industry's case against file sharing.

Think of how business -- any business -- was being conducted in 1990. Now think of how business is conducted today. Technology in general and the Internet in specific have changed the business world in profound ways. The problem with the music industry isn't file sharing and MP3s, it's that for some reason they stopped flipping over their calendar pages back when we were trying to kill Saddam the first time.

A recent TV news story mentioned that there are five major record labels. Five. And how many radio stations are left? With precious few exceptions (thank god for KPIG!) you can visit any city in the US and you'll swear your radio is picking up the same shopworn, homogenized crap you left town to escape.

Is it an evil conspiracy? Not really. It's business. But it's business that's clinging to what was, with no thought for what can be. The future of the music industry is indeed in question. To be more precise, it's the "industry" part that's headed into the tank. The music will thrive in its absence, and people will make money -- without the need for the record companies that are currently making so much noise.