Business Insight Zone

Yeah, agreeing with the author of The Long Tail is not exactly a case study in iconoclasm, but I think that what Chris is saying here is much like what I said a couple of weeks ago in my post, “Western Union and record labels.”

Here’s Chris:

…Indeed, it appears that every single part of the music industry except the sale of compact discs is up.

…So the problem with the music labels is not that music is an industry in decline, but that they have a too-narrow view of what business they’re in….

Amen. Here’s me, two weeks ago:

At some point, the record companies will come to grips with the reality that their consumers, over the years, haven’t been in love with their record-company-ness, any more than people who sent telegrams were in love with Western Union. What people wanted was always the music — the message.

Chris and I are singing the same tune. It would be nice if the current companies that have traditionally dominated the music business would remember that they’re in the music business — or the music-message business, if you like — rather than in the forcing-consumers-to-buy-CDs business.

Category: Entertainment