An interesting article on The Times website suggest that music artists are seeing growth in revenues even as record industry revenues plummet.
As a struggling musician, this is the kind of news I find encouraging. It seems to me that if the business model for selling music copied on to a physical medium (wax, vinyl, CD etc.) is no longer relevant, let it die. Recorded music can not be protected from copying without introducing draconian controls over data sharing which will impact the flow of all ones and zeros on the web. If you are not convinced, check out Darth Mandelson’s proposals.
What would be wrong with a world where musicians can earn a reasonable living doing all the stuff most of us working musos do anyway? Losing the mega rich stars is not a loss. Bye Bye Coldplay and U2, I won’t lament your passing.