Music Companies Need to Shift Their Thinking

The world is constantly changing and music companies need to acknowledge that fact and look into other methods of monetization. Music is no longer the one or two good songs amongst 12 mediocre tracks on a $29.95 CD. It's now the mp3's, the iTunes, the iPods, the digital media track. People have more options now. They don't need to pay for an entire CD to get the one or two good songs. Record labels always cite how many "millions" they've lost in CD sales. Have they not figured out that the CD is a slowly dying medium and that those who do buy it are perhaps more dedicated fans or those unfamiliar with iTunes or other online music outlets. It's time for them to look into other ways to monetize on their stars.

Personally, I see singers now actually have more viral exposure, and isn't it exposure, getting the music out there that will sell tours, merchandise and create lifelong fans? Companies like Universal Music have already tapped into the power of YouTube. Once upon a time, this company fought against the likes of YouTube and have since turned around to embrace the technology. Free on demand music videos helps upcoming artists to gain exposure in markets where Universal Music may not have thought of marketing to. If you've ever uploaded a video onto YouTube, you'll find that there are demographics for the video. Universal could see where (geographically) people may be viewing the video and focus on targeting the particular artists' music in that region.

Music companies also argue that piracy destroys the artists' creativity and motivation to make music. I don't know about you, but most of the musicians I know don't exactly think, "millions of these kids are going to pirate my track and I'll make small sales, I'm not going into the music industry". It's more like "I'm going to produce this awesome song, become famous and everyone will hear my music." Welcome to the 21st century music companies.

As a side note, if illegal things like this become a long and downhill battle, eventually I think music companies will give in to the battle and accept the fact and find some other methods to make money. I believe this was a similar case for Prop 19, the legalization of cannabis.