Haha, not incredibly - it was the first thing that came in to my head - but you got what I meant! I'm sure there's a better one :-)
The major labels (certainly), controlled the distribution channels (and I know a lot of indies used a major for distribution, when it was all physical media) - and they don't, so much, anymore. My point was they chose to fight the future rather than adapt to it, so other people came and stole the new business. There's what - 4 big labels? Had they come together they could have sewn up digital distribution before other companies (iTunes, then Spotify, etc etc) came and stole their revenues. Sure music industry profits may be down, but that money is probably just being made elsewhere.
I guess change is hard. The 50 something record exec behind the big desk in the year 1999 who's never sent an email, getting told by some 20 year old kid in a winamp t-shirt that 'MP3s are the future' is probably going to laugh him out the office. When he realises people are taking music for free, in bulk, his reaction is(/was??!) probably - that's stealing, not 'how can we monetize this?'
The major labels (certainly), controlled the distribution channels (and I know a lot of indies used a major for distribution, when it was all physical media) - and they don't, so much, anymore. My point was they chose to fight the future rather than adapt to it, so other people came and stole the new business. There's what - 4 big labels? Had they come together they could have sewn up digital distribution before other companies (iTunes, then Spotify, etc etc) came and stole their revenues. Sure music industry profits may be down, but that money is probably just being made elsewhere.
I guess change is hard. The 50 something record exec behind the big desk in the year 1999 who's never sent an email, getting told by some 20 year old kid in a winamp t-shirt that 'MP3s are the future' is probably going to laugh him out the office. When he realises people are taking music for free, in bulk, his reaction is(/was??!) probably - that's stealing, not 'how can we monetize this?'