The Future Of Music Is 'Free'- The Latest War Report

This week has been a milestone week for changes towards the ‘Future Music’ models.

With CD sales falling(10% last year)…..the ever decreasing cost of CD’s and burners …and the continuing popularity of P2P software(always amongst the top downloads at CNET), it is no surprise that not only has the download leader I-Tunes been challenged but every element of the market is changing.

This weeks announcement was about Qtrax….”the world's first fully-licensed advertising-supported peer-to-peer (P2P) music-sharing service -- free to listeners -- and offering the largest selection of musical tracks of any authorized online music source and the highest quality of service (QoS) in the industry.”

Arguments abound about what music will be available and if it will succeed……but you can bet we will all try them…….and hope that it does.

Although the war goes on as reported by Mark Charmer this week. The fans will eventually win….it’s just a matter of time…..I recall saying that before. But the evidence is growing daily

So why do we want our music for free, and will the cost of music continue to move to zero.

The fact is we love music….but now we have so much it has become disposable. When we don’t like a track any more we dump it from the I-pod. Music moves in web based groups......specialist groups of consumers. They abound on the Internet in blogs like this and fan clubs. Richard Jones when asked whether users would not prefer to own music - and be able to put it on a portable player - rather than just being able to stream it,  said: "The way people consume music is changing - sometimes you just want to listen to it there and then."

Whereas back in the 60s to the 80s we had to rely on cassette tapes and the mail to keep our collections of much loved music together…..we can now discover virtually all music on-line. Much of it is available free through blog sites where you can find virtually any rare album from the 50s to the 90s available as a Rapidshare(or some other sharing service) download. Then you can get help through groups like the Yahoo network to find lost or unheard recordings in specialists e-groups.

Gone are the days when you had to buy an album to hear it and to see if you like it. Download it as a zipfile dubbed from vinyl ….and if you want clean out the clicks for your personal collection using de-clicker software.

The impact is being felt by the vinyl resale outlets as the BBC reported the further closure of a major record shop. But now the supply of vinyl is rationalizing and stabilizing and in the future the ‘Record Shop’ will be a browsers library of ‘high end’ collectibles with the run of the mill vinyl passing through the internet vinyl resellers at knock down prices or through E-bay for 99p!

And then Last.fm disrupt everyone with their announcement of ‘the world's biggest free music service.’

Our approach is to try to persuade the artists to share their music with their fans. These are artists who had their career through the 60s and 70s in the main. Some are millionaires and they don’t need the royalties. Irrespective of their current circumstance they are lucky to have been part of the ‘pop century’. What they do need and we seek to help them do it, is tell the story of their creativity. In many respects the importance of preserving music almost lost in time is a daily crusade for many of us ‘music detectives’. Whatever the situation artists or former artists are in, it is virtually impossible for them to be ‘ripped off’ today as a result of the download culture. With the value of the music plummeting there is too little profit in it for the ‘commercial pirates’ to succeed. Once this is realized by the artists it is hoped that they will use their back-catalogue to tell their story illustrating it with the songs and stories of its creation from their past. Each track tells a story. Whether these are good, bad or ugly the stories entertain and this allows the music to shine through.

The subscription service model will we hope soon materialize as a viable access point to libraries of past years music. Last.fm have made a breakthrough as have Qtrax. The real battle is to find and preserve what has been created during this unique window of 50 plus years. That’s a war worth fighting. Whether we tune to it via Last.fm or want it for our I-pod the music is within our grasp.

Casey Chameleon

FOOTNOTE

The day after posting this note I found a blog link to all the Four Seasons Motown albums where they can be downloaded as mp3's for free. So these tracks will probably never get an official release and neither Motown Universal or The Partnership will make money from them again.Perhaps! This was a sheer coincidence and we have no association with the blog but now we can all enjoy the great quality of these tracks. You'll find lots of other great albums here too including the Seasons 'Christmas' album. Click here for the link.

Comments

[Casey Chameleon]

This argument misses the point of my article. I'm not saying that people should not be paid for their work. The 40 year old records that we want to see released have been paid for. If you do a piece of work you get paid ........artists and publishers get paid every time it is played or included on a CD as well as for creating it. I was a project manager for construction projects and worked to get an MBA to be as good at my job as I could be. Does that mean I should get a portion of everyones rent or payment everytime the building is used. Artists and publishers complain too easily when they have been in a priviledged position for decades.I work for free now because I have a pension which I saved for for 30 years. I believe in a subscription service for music just like I pay for my TV services. The greed of the industry is being exposed as artists of NEW music take control and get paid for their concerts and give much of their music for free. (eg PRINCE et al). Artist, publishers and record company's should stop being attached to the old work/pay models. The key is that 'change' will continue and a new model will emerge.
And then there is the difficulty of licensing tracks for CD and getting them out. Our work is devoted to finding and preserving the music lost in time because the publishers and record companies can't make money by releasing it. If only a few hundred or 1000 people will buy it, just let it die.

How many times have record Company's repackaged hits again and again to squeeze more money out of fans including 1 or 2 unreleased so we all had to buy it. 'What you reap' comes to mind.

Casey

[Jerry Hnatko]

Everyone seems to want a FREE RIDE. I guess it will start with taking free music and then lets hope it will start to trickle down to everyone else, then soon no one should be paid for going to work in what ever trade they are in. (GEE DO YOU THINK THE FREE BEE LOVERS WOULD COMPLAIN ABOUT NOT GETTING PAID ??) my suggestion above is not only stupid, but it should never be permitted to happen..

There are more people involved in the music industry then the common thief realizes. It's not only the recording artist that comes out a looser. What about the people who wrote the words and music? It's not always the performer who writes and creates the song. Then there's a long list like publisher, recording studio, the CD pressing plant, record company, etc and others to numerous to mention. When a song is purchase all that money you just spent doesn't all go to the artist or group, but your purchase pays a lot more contributors in creating that CD. I guess the public thinks they all do this for fun and not to earn a living at their trade. All these professionals would be lost without this income and so would the music business, gone forever so what now would this not for money music lovers do? (GO OUTSIDE AT NIGHT AND HOWL AT THE MOON FOR ENTERTAINMENT?)He or she is probability doing that now anyway. For a start it takes big bucks to go into a recording studio with the hopes that what you are recording will pay you back for your time and effort with future income and not with the outlook of investing so the public can take it for FREE. Maybe from now on every concert and performance should be free for these jerks too. Hell why not include free movies, food, cars and vacations along with whatever these people want for nothing. If all this becomes free to STEAL then maybe this thing called music that everyone craves will soon come to an END. I own a record company and a publishing company be assured that I would not invest another red cent in producing any new music without the hopes of recovering some profit from it. Maybe the solution is a music boycott. Not from the greedy public but from the entire music industry. Imagine no more new music for the greedy public to steal.

Now lets see.. I doubt if anyone working a job wuld object to this idea...
You go to work every day at your job and was told -- ON PAY DAY -- Money for working your job?? You must be joking!!! Don't you get it you've been working for FREE so please don't expect a pay check at the end of the week. OH, as a reminder... Don't forget your taxes are due. Good luck finding the money to pay them, but then again the goverment will let you slide. A great dream HUH?? or NIGHT MARE!!!