Big Music’s worst enemy? Not file sharers
p2pnet view Music:- Vivendi Universal (France), Sony (Japan), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US) music thought they had it tough trying to steal control of the Internet, at the same time hammering down online ‘consumers’ to the same level of surfdom as those who buy their ‘product’ offline.
Now what are they going to do?
Because they’re looking at a competitor with the same complete lack of scruples as themselves.
To make things worse it, too, is a virtual monopoly with the same kind of bottomless pockets and obscene legal and political resources as the Big 4 labels.
‘Directly focused on the record labels’
How much smaller will the music industry have to get before they finally abandon their historic business model?
That’s what Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield was wondering in November, 2007, saying it’s not a question of ‘if’ they’ll change their approach to move into the 21st digital century, but ‘when’.
“We are sitting at the Live Nation analyst meeting in NYC and believe the most immediate takeaway is that LYV management has its strategic ‘cross-hairs’ directly focused on the record labels,” he stated.
Now, “After nearly a year of intense scrutiny, political posturing and consumer outcry, it’s time for the music business to come to grips with its new superpower,” says Billboard.
Live Nation.
And what’s its bottom line?
Direct to fans.
“The new company, led by president/CEO Michael Rapino and executive chairman Irving Azoff, would control the majority of box-office dollars, the myriad revenue streams from concert ticketing and the growing e-commerce from fan-ticket interactions,” says the story.
“Live Nation Entertainment will also aggressively pursue competitive advantages in merchandising, VIP ticketing, fan clubs and, ultimately, physical distribution.
To appease the US Department of Justice (DOJ), “Live Nation will license Ticketmaster’s primary ticketing software to competitor AEG for five years and is expected to sell Ticketmaster’s automated ticketing service provider, Paciolan, to Comcast-Spectacor,” the story points out.
But, it notes, “ticketing is no longer the core business here. Instead, it will be the linchpin of a broader-based operation aimed at profiting from every aspect of the artist/fan relationship.”
Live Nation Entertainment to artist to Live Nation Entertainment to fan to Live Nation Entertainment to artist to Live Nation Entertainment.
Not only but also, “The appeal to sponsors along this pipeline is huge,” says Billboard, going on:
“And Live Nation has everything from merchandise to VIP amenities to recorded content to sell not only at live events but, more important, through its growing digital storefronts and information hubs at LiveNation.com and MusicToday, as well as through Front Line’s I Love All Access VIP program.”
It’ll be interesting see what big names such as Bruce Springsteen have anything to say.
“The Boss is angry twice over with Ticketmaster,” said p2pnet almost exactly a year ago when news of the merger was front and centre.
Springsteen was angry not only about the possible marriage, but also because some of his fans were sent to TicketsNow.com, a Ticketmaster resale site, where tickets for one of his shows were being sold at well over the odds.
Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff described the rip-off as “inadvertent”.
Stay tuned for more “inadvertent” rip-offs.
..… and identi.ca
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Pali Research – Live Nation = Record Label Enemy, November 15, 2007
not a question of ‘if’ – Live Nation versus Big Music, November 15, 2007
Billboard – Music industry prepares for post-merger landscape, January 30, 2010
angry twice over – Springsteen angry over Ticketmaster rip-off, February 6, 2009
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/feed
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details.
January 30th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Any enemy of Big Music is a friend to me. It’s just like the saying “the enemy of my enemy is my ally”.
January 30th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
It was only a matter of time before the upper levels of the pyramid would have to start competing for control of the remaining money. This could be one of the signs some of us have been waiting for – where they start eating their own in order to survive – that the first stage of the Industry’s forced adaption to reality has begun.
January 30th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Corporation are like pathogens. They hate each others.
So this is what we have to do.
1) We let Live Nation exterminate the current music industry.
2) Them we show up and we exterminate Live Nation.
We can not afford corporate parasites in our societies. Sorry.
February 3rd, 2010 at 3:53 am
“Surfdom”? Jesus, can’t anybody spell anymore? The word is “serfdom”.