The Music Industry ...

... I Can Fix This (Part 1 of 7)
Written: By Leslie Brathwaite

First of all, the internet DID NOT ruin the MUSIC industry. That would be like saying ATM machines ruined the banking industry. ATM machines make accessing your money easier and more convenient. Instead of making a trip to the bank to withdraw or deposit money, you can do it from a grocery store (where you can instantly use it). Same concept can be applied to music. The internet is simply a tool thru which you can access, distribute, audition, discover, and conveniently purchase music.

THE PROBLEM is, the music industry was (and in some cases still is) so focused on doing things the old way and destroying internet-music activity, that they didn’t focus any resources on harnessing the power of the internet to ENHANCE music sales. Instead of spending time trying to destroy the kid that came up with NAPSTER, record labels should have found that kid, put him on a payroll and charge him with figuring out a way to come up with a workable, and hacker-free solution to embrace the internet and its power of connectivity to effectively sell music.

APPLE beat them to the punch. They figured out what the record labels should have – if you come up with the coolest gadget to play music on (iPOD), then you come up with a cool interface for the gadget where you can arrange playlists, and PURCHASE your content (iTUNES), you can corner the market. SONY had the same relative game plan in the 80s when they gave us cassettes, but also gave us the cool gadget (the walkman) in which to play the cassettes.

Simply put, the music industry has not evolved enough to keep up with technology and the changes in the world. So…….of course not only do I present the PROBLEM, but here are some ideas for thought that could lead to a SOLUTION.

Tip # 1. MAKE BETTER MUSIC
Seems like this would be obvious, but for some reason the music keeps getting worse. Now let me clarify something – good music does not ONLY mean live instruments and “taking it back” to live instrumentation with bands, etc. the problem with that is people who want live music or instruments usually tend to sound too old school or dated, especially in the R&B. They tend to focus to much on how things “sounded” before, instead of being PROGRESSIVE and visionary. I think alternative and electronic music is probably best representation of good, progressive, music these days. Hip-Hop is horrible. R&B is boring, Dancehall is pretty stagnant, everyone is either getting lazy, doing the same thing or trying to re-create an era that isn’t coming back.

I'm not the smartest guy ever, but I think I'm not too far off here. Feel free to comment!

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