Fascinating that on a day Steve Jobs introduced iPhone 4.0, it was reported that digital track sales in the first quarter actually declined.<\/p>\n
Oh, there’s some mumbo-jumbo about SoundScan reporting periods, but even if you adjust to the old window for comparison, sales would still be down .09% instead of 1%.<\/p>\n
In other words, the dream is over.\u00c2\u00a0 You know, the dream that digital would replace physical.\u00c2\u00a0 Or that iTunes would stop piracy.\u00c2\u00a0 Or that the major labels would keep control of the music business.<\/p>\n
It’s back to the drawing board, it’s time for innovation.<\/p>\n
In other words, when more people are listening to more music than ever before, how can sales be down?\u00c2\u00a0 BECAUSE WE’RE NOT DELIVERING MUSIC THE WAY PEOPLE WANT IT!<\/p>\n
Are Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and Zach Horowitz gonna stand on their high horses and decry pirates, refuse to license new business models as their revenues continue to slip?\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe they’re going to come up with 3-D CDs, requiring special headphones.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean what’s the solution?<\/p>\n
Number one…\u00c2\u00a0 Eviscerate piracy.\u00c2\u00a0 Make it so it’s just not worth it to steal.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, people may even forget how to steal…<\/p>\n
But, but, but…if we lower the price so everybody can get in, we’re going to lose that extra revenue from our best customers!\u00c2\u00a0 Cable providers don’t care how much you watch TV, it’s just about signing up.\u00c2\u00a0 And cell providers have unlimited plans.\u00c2\u00a0 And both have great anti-piracy measures so there’s no direct comparison, but the point is today’s paradigm is giving a lot for a little, not being pecked to death by ducks, micro-payments of\u00c2\u00a0 $1.29 for every track.\u00c2\u00a0 Who could survive on a system like this?\u00c2\u00a0 Not car companies, who sell accessories in packages.\u00c2\u00a0 The key is to come up with a bucket of tracks, for a reasonable price.<\/p>\n
Or license Spotify.<\/p>\n
Now is the time to try.\u00c2\u00a0 Before EVERYBODY stops paying for music!<\/p>\n
I mean you’ve got it on MySpace, YouTube, Lala…and you’re paying for a 3G connection on your handset so you can sample there too.\u00c2\u00a0 Come on.\u00c2\u00a0 We need a better mousetrap.<\/p>\n
Lasso everybody into a free Spotify.\u00c2\u00a0 And then either make the upsell so enticing that people will fork over cash or cut off access after people are addicted, like a drug dealer.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, doesn’t the drug dealer give the first taste free?<\/p>\n
Desperate times are here again, even worse than 2000 and the advent of Napster.\u00c2\u00a0 If rights holders have any hope of getting people to pay for music access, they’ve got to throw the long ball now, got to come out of the huddle and let it fly, even though there are so many defenders…because you can’t win if you don’t play.<\/p>\n
iPod sales start to fade and Apple introduces the iPhone.\u00c2\u00a0 And now there’s the iPad.\u00c2\u00a0 And in the music business we’ve raised the price to $1.29 at a store that broke in 2003…\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, that’s ancient history in tech terms.<\/p>\n
It’s not about finding more places to SELL music, it’s about finding better ways to deliver access to music.\u00c2\u00a0 Get cracking.<\/p>\n
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