Success Stories From The Music Commerce Frontier

from the things-are-working dept

Mon, Jun 22nd 2009 12:57pm — Mike Masnick

To hear some in the industry tell it, the music industry is falling apart. Except, we're not seeing that at all. What we have seen is that sales of one particular element of the industry have come under much needed competitive pressure, and that's caused a few companies who relied too heavily on that area of business to finally start to recognize the inefficiencies in their business model -- which they're falsely blaming on "piracy." However, the rest of the industry is thriving. A couple weeks ago, I presented at the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) event, held in San Diego, about "success stories from the music commerce frontier," highlighting both artists and companies that were finding success, despite the "woe is me" complaints from both the big record labels and certain music retailers. Parts of the presentation come from older presentations, but about 2/3 of it is entirely new material, including the opening bit, built off of Clay Shirky's wonderful analysis of what comes next for the newspaper industry -- but applied to the music industry. The presentation itself runs about half an hour and you can watch it below (if you're in an RSS reader, click through to the page to see it):

NARM 2009 State Of The Industry: Michael Masnick from NARM on Vimeo.

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Filed Under: business models, economics, music, stories, success
Companies: narm

19 Comments

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angry dude, 22 Jun 2009 @ 1:14pm

T-Shirts, idiots !!!
Don't forget about T-Shirts
it's a sure way to make up for your losses
Mikey said so
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Kelly Brown (profile), 22 Jun 2009 @ 1:30pm

Saved!
If you are running Linux, let the entire video buffer. Go to your /tmp folder, copy the Flash cache file (named something like Flashzbx93o or other garbage that starts with "Flash"), rename it as an MP4 file.

Voila. You've just saved a Flash video off the Internet without using any fancy plugins/tools.

I am in class right now, so I had to use this method to watch it later. This way, at least, I don't have to rebuffer it later. ^_^

(In fact, halfway through typing this message, I lost my Internet connection.)
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2009 @ 1:34pm

Yes, Yes, Yes!
Brilliant speech, Mike!

This was 1000x better, keep up the great work! I liked the intro, inside joke, perhaps?

(Standing ovation)
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2009 @ 1:36pm

Re: T-Shirts, idiots !!!
Why such callousness?

If you watched it, you would have seen that Mike brought up your idea.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 22 Jun 2009 @ 1:40pm

Re: T-Shirts, idiots !!!
"Don't forget about T-Shirts
it's a sure way to make up for your losses
Mikey said so"

Your witty sarcasm and insightful addition to this interactive conversation have convinced me to see things your way.

/sarcasm
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 22 Jun 2009 @ 1:41pm

Re: Re: T-Shirts, idiots !!!
You forgot to say:
"I trolled with Angry Dude"
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2009 @ 2:38pm

Re: T-Shirts, idiots !!!
Hey angrydude have you told us what your patent is yet or are we going to have to keep showing people your invention

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/281402/a_peek_into_the_future/
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John, 22 Jun 2009 @ 3:02pm

Re: Re: Re: T-Shirts, idiots !!!
Make *that* a t-shirt.
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max (profile), 22 Jun 2009 @ 4:18pm

brilliant
The ideas for monetizing music in this NARM video are absolutely brilliant. Another instance of "creative adaptation" of the times. Survival of the fittest. There will be more "creative adaptations" to answer the downfall of the music business's outdated model. That's just the way of the world. P2p is now the will of the people. So be it. That can be monetized as well...through creative adaptation. Options are all good as long as the people have the choices.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2009 @ 5:00pm

All the creative adaptation is to cover for one basic issue:

Everyone downloading music is stealing, getting something they shouldn't have unless they pay for it.

Giving in to thieves is a really, really bad business move. If they are going to steal your music today, they will steal anything else they can get their hands on tomorrow.
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max (profile), 22 Jun 2009 @ 5:27pm

Re: anonymous
Huh? It seems you didn't even watch the NARM video before commenting here. C'mon, get real. Don't be posting just to post.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2009 @ 6:04pm

Re: Re: anonymous
Sort of harm - the presentation style is for the MTV generation, people with the attention spans of fleas. It makes me ill, and makes me wonder if all the flashy slides are just to cover up the lack of a true message.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2009 @ 7:53pm

Interesting video. It would be nice if they showed you talking on the podium every once in a while as well.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2009 @ 8:28pm

Re: Re: Re: anonymous
No, that would be the "Lessig Presentation Method", which is actually an adaptation of the Takahashi Presentation Method, which was named for it's inventor, Masayoshi Takahashi

But what do you know? Just blame the MTV Generation. Seems easier, right?

Seems fair.
I will also call you an asshole. Why?

Seems fair.
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Sammie Houston (profile), 23 Jun 2009 @ 4:33am

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MattP, 23 Jun 2009 @ 8:19am

Re:
That doesn't work with his presentation style.
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music101, 23 Jun 2009 @ 11:44am

You are really out to lunch
Are you serious? NARM was a joke.

How long do you think topspin will be in business?

I predict imeem, topspin, etc. will all be under within 2 years.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jun 2009 @ 8:21pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: anonymous
Critical reading skills: zero.

"the presentation style is for the MTV generation"

I didn't say it was invented by the MTV generation, I just say it's for people of that generation - people who think that a music video with less than 1 camera angle change per second is boring.

It's all flash, flash, flash, and very little actual content. Heck, there are something like 50 or 75 slides just to discuss drunk people from last night. Is that really needed?
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Lance Bledsoe, 25 Jun 2009 @ 7:48am

Very informative presentation
I finally got around to watching this and enjoyed it tremendously. I was familiar with some of the content from previous Techdirt posts, but this brought it together with some new (to me) stuff in a very informative way.

Thanks, Mike!
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