ITunes

The Making of Fame: One Tune at a Time
I just subscribed to Apple's ITunes, and found it incredibly addictive. I have always thought that buying an entire album was a waste of money except for artists that I deemed exceptional such as Beatles or for Broadway shows, symphonies, operas and ballets. But buying one song at a time and cherry picking among artists, albums...oh now that's too fun. Is it worth $.99? I think it is for the paranoid among us who fear the wrath of Big Musak, otherwise stick to peer to peer file sharing.

How will this change the landscape of the music business is the far more interesting question. For fledgling artists, I expect this will help level the playing field. Whereas the general public might not purchase an entire album, they would buy one great song that would launch a career. Would this lessen the stranglehold Big Musak has on the business? Eventually, yes. Will this evolve as more people shop online? Yes. I doubt if 20 years from now any retail stores will be in business selling music cds or dvd. What would be the point when is can all be downloaded? Rather like trying to find any stores selling sheet music. Yup, some still exist as anachronisms not as mainstream retail venues.

So what exactly will it mean to be a record label when no records exist now to label? Why wouldn't PR firms specializing in helping new artists get airtime on radio and TV music channels take the place of the record labels? At one time, there was considerable capital invested in the production and distribution of vinyl jacketed record albums: 45s, 33 1/3s, and 78s. We burn our own CDs and now we download digital music into devices for listening...where is the production and distribution costs associated with that? What's left in terms of costs and overhead: a website, good graphic designer, production studio to digitally record the master copy and that's it.

Why wouldn't this drive down the price of music, by pass the studio and labels as well as increase the remuneration to the artists? It won't because this industry sector has a powerful Washington lobby, a vise-like control of the business and the players and they have a vested interest in remaining rich and powerful.