Sean Parker Says Music Industry Poised to Rebound
By Ed Oswald | Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 7:01 pm
It seems almost odd: the very man who has played a large part in the decline of an industry is now the one most bullish on its future prospects. At the e-G8 conference in Paris, Napster co-founder Sean Parker said that a “bottom” was ahead for the music industry due to new services on the horizon.
Indeed, the industry has lost three-quarters of its value, falling from a $45 billion annual business to about $12 billion. Clearly, a new business model is needed.
Parker is an investor in music service Spotify, and said that the back catalogues that are being made available through services like it are helping to drive growth. While traditional digital music stores were good for selling top-40 hits and singles, they so far have not done well in selling most back-catalogue tracks.
There’s a good reason for that: most of those tracks don’t have the same perceived value that a new song has, thus a user may balk at paying full price for it. However, with streaming services and all-you-can-consume plans now in vogue, suddenly there is a demand for these tracks.
It’s also the reason why Parker made a surprising bid to buy a portion of Warner Music Group, which was unsuccessful. Apparently he believes in what he’s saying, and ready to put at risk a significant portion of his sizable fortune behind it.
Is he right? Are digital music subscriptions finally going to gain widespread acceptance — especially from Apple, which holds a near stranglehold on the industry? I guess we’ll find out.
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May 25th, 2011 at 8:27 pm
Oowee, What's really going on here? Are musicians really gonna lose out or is it the songwriters themselves? and lord help you if you are a musician/songwriter. Can anyone say musicians, songwriters, producers BOYCOTT! ? in times when we all are struggling with the exception of Lady Gaga and well established artist, whose catalogs you are not naming in this article, will probably not join in such demonstrations because they are still being played on traditional radio, and it's not going to effect their bottom line as much.Then who really makes up the Industry we are talking about? the indie artist who's very livelihood revenue is made from the digital industry, myself included. Who am I? Why The Silver Conductor @ http://www.thesilverconductor.com , Facebook, Youtube & itunes.
With payola still alive and well in the industry, one would need the backing of Mr.Parker to successfully launch a traditional career to make in the auto-tuned filled, instant soup hit factory that comprises most of the quickly liquidated majors that remain.. So I leave you with this, Viral, social Media, musicians boycott, what is there for us indies to do when we are the creators of the new sounds you never hear? I would only hope that after all the articles about an industry dying or that is dead, you focus on the remaining positive, Indie Artist, songwriters and creators of the very emotional human glue that binds us all together at every point of our emotional human puzzle existence.
Remember: "Always know who loves you"
The Silver Conductor