Something Interesting I Found
On Rags Gupta's blog, which can be seen on DigitalMusicNews.com, Gupta makes an interesting point about the music industry fighting against the "free" business model in regards to P2P downloading and other online music services.
"One can compete with the "free" business model; indeed competing against "free" protects you from lazy marketing. The bottled water industry is the most
obvious example of this, and it was raised by Prof. Moon. However, she raised an interesting point: imagine if consumers were used to getting music for free...do you think you could sell CDs? I'd think so: the value proposition would be around things like artwork, having a backup to the digital file, having a packaged playlist put together by someone else (so you're paying for editorial programming)."
I think Grupta is right on the money. They've gotten lazy in their marketing and sales. A little kick in the pants my give consumers a better product at a better price. Grupta has some pretty cool links to great bloggers in the industry. If you're interested in this kind of stuff, I'd suggest you check it out.
Keep the comments coming guys. How about getting a little academic conversation going on here.
posted by Matt Robinson @ 2:50:00 PM
2 Comments:
I don't know much about marketing in general and I certainly don't know much about the marketing of CD's and other forms of music and media, but I can tell you that while *I* get most of my music/media through digital mean (legally, of course), I did go into Virgin Megastore yesterday for the first time in a looooooooong time and bought a real CD. But I bought it for my mom who uses only CD's and doesn't know the first thing about digital downloads. My point is that regardless of whether CD and DVD sales are down as a consequence of digital downloads, there are still at least segments of the population who I believe would respond affirmatively to marketing initiatives in the music/media industry. Market on, musicians, market on.
There will always be a market of some kind for CD's, but will it be financially advisable for record companies to make that kind of investment and get so little a return on investment? I'm not necessarily saying I believe one way or the other, but it's something to think about.
Also, CD's, like every other tangible audio medium in history, will become obsolete at some point, only to be replaced by audio DVD's, Blue Ray discs, or whatever else they come up with. I personally believe that there will always be, not only a market for tangible audio, but a NEED for it, namely in the audio industry. History has proven that there is great value in providing multiple backups of media in a durable, lasting medium.
Ultimately, it will be the consumer who decides what the market will be like. I would love to see the music industry focus a little more on the marketing of (now) CD's to provide a better product at a lower cost. I, like so many others, purchase the majority of my music online for two simple reasons. (1)It's easy! If you're sitting on your couch and decide you want to pick up the new Britney & K-Fed album, it's as simple as picking up your computer, logging on, downloading the music, and, bam, you have the album without leaving your living room (which says a lot about the microwave society we live in, but that's a whole other subject). (2)It's cheaper! This is a matter of personal value. To me, it's hard to justify driving to the record store (note the current gas prices) and spending $17 on a CD I can get through iTunes for $9.99. Some say that the difference one pays is for the artwork, but most music artwork is available online for free. To my knowledge there has been no copyright issues brought to the table yet with this. I like CD's (which can be uploaded onto your computer), but I'd rather save money.
This is all merely the opinion of one student who is still learning. I'd love to hear others' views, especially if they are different.
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