I recently attended the SanFran MusicTech Summit. This is a one-day conference held in San Francisco California that brings together the professional music world and the technology world to discuss the “state of the union” so to speak. This was the fourth such summit and interest and attendance seem to be growing.
Technology is not only driving the music industry, it is redefining it. Everyone involved is trying to figure out how, what, could and should they be doing to utilize the Internet and all it’s services, including me.
The Internet is morphing the music industry into something very different than it was 25 years ago, 5 years or even 5 months ago – from how we create music, how we listen to music and how we purchase music, it has all completely changed and it is going to continue to change.
I have said this before and I will say it again, there has never been a better time to be a musician or music coinsure for that matter. We have never had more choices. Not everyone would agree with me on this, especially those who have a lot invested in the major label system. The new universe of music opens the doors to the many talented people in the world but because there are so many new opportunities it is easy to feel overwhelmed.
With changes on this scale there is a lot of chaos, largely in the “getting paid department “. This brings me to the question, what value does music provide to the world?
When you think about it – music is the sound track of life. It is everywhere you go. It's in the store when you are shopping, on the radio when you are driving and on your iPod when you are exercising. It is the backdrop of the party or the event and helps to make an evening special. It is the gift you wrap and give to a friend, it is how we give praise to God in church, it is the cohesion of the marching band, it is the motivation to dance and it is the emotional marker of significant experiences like the first date, the summer you turned sixteen and the wedding song. People love music because music deepens our feelings. Music helps us remember those feelings later drawing upon our emotional library. Music is the cohesion of culture and the rhythm of mankind. Music is the call to action and the soother of soul – Some people believe music should be free and that is very much at the root of the problems with the new world order of music.
I know that people value music. I also know that whenever you add value to other people’s lives you will be compensated. So the new challenge for the music industry is to provide and define value and figure out how to have people pay us for what we do.
