Chris, Very well stated. Jaimie Vernon, President, Bullseye Records http://www.bullseyecanada.com SWAG: http://www.cafepress.com/bullseyecanada BULLSEYE LIVE 365 RADIO: http://www.live365.com/stations/bullseyerecords Author, Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Pop_Encyclopedia/ http://www.myspace.com/jaimievernonsmovingtargetz >From: "Christopher Kouzes" >Reply-To: audities@smoe.org >To: , >Subject: Re: eMusic >Date: Thu, 10 May 2007 18:01:10 -0400 > ><> > >Sorry Jaimie, but it's been several years since the majors have thrived. >In fact all of the majors have had substantial staff cuts in the past 24 >months and have seen their profits dwindle. Just this week, WEA >announced a layoff of over 400 people. Music sales (and by this, it's >largely meant major label releases) are down about 30% from last year. > >When Shawn Fanning and Napster made ripping and sharing mp3 so >commonplace, they let the genie out who will never return to the bottle. >Music, right or wrong, will be undervalued from here on out. Who knows, >maybe it's always been overpriced? Maybe the turn of events over the >past 2 years or so has brought the market to where it should be. Maybe >musicians can't have a career based on music sales. Maybe most music >offered will be a promotional tool to get people to see live shows >(which is about the only part of the music business is still strong). >Devauled entertainment product isn't limited to music. DVD prices have >continued to fall. Open up any weekend circular and see what you can buy >for under $10. Hell, under $5. > >If a label thinks places like eMusic are a rip off and are afraid they >won't see enough money from sales to cover production costs, then simply >don't use them. But anyone wringing their hands because competition (of >any sort) or "unattractive" opportunities have turned over the apple >cart and doesn't do anything to help themselves can't be felt sorry for. > >About 10 years ago when Best Buy was ploughing through the country >opening stores left and right, it put a lot of indie stores out of >business. But good stores, stores that met the challenge did things that >removed the head-to-head pricing wars they couldn't win. They brought in >things like t-shirts, pop culture stuff, used CDs, and anything else >that the competition couldn't offer. The good stores were, in most >cases, able to weather the storm. > >Bringing this back to music, I think what Bruce is doing at Not Lame is >brilliant. By offering value added material (in the form of bonus discs, >downloadable mp3s, additional information), he's now able to offer >something that the likes of iTunes and eMusic can't offer. Ray at Kool >Kat is doing the exact same thing. The new Maple Mars, Fooling April, >and John Wicks CDs all have a bonus EP of usually demos or live. That >seems pretty smart to me. I know I keep on buying from both sites. > >At the recent NARM meeting, the main topic of conversation was "what do >we do next?" The majors don't really know. The indie don't know. But >what is known is that artist or label still trying to think and operate >the way they were 5 years ago probably ain't going to be around much >longer. > >Actually Jaimie, the classic rock model you've got is probably a pretty >solid one. Chances are most of those folks are slightly older and would >still prefer to buy physical product. Your numbers are right on. I >worked for an indie distributor/importer about 10 years ago and we had a >few in-house labels, one of which just reissued classic rock albums and >artists. The model was set so that some decent money could be made at >2000 units sold. > >Chris _________________________________________________________________ Fight Allergies With Live Search http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=Remedies+For+Spring+Allergies&mkt=en-ca&FORM=SERNEP