While catching up on a few missed editions of The Wall Street Journal, I noticed a pattern: big changes in the troubled music industry.
From groundbreaking
partnerships to exclusive retail deals, the music industry is evolving to meet
consumer preferences and, hopefully, to turn the beat around (That was a
shout-out to Gloria Estefan, as I feel bad for recently rejecting her free
iTunes download at Starbucks).
Reportedly,
Madonna is close to leaving Warner Music for Live Nation, an unprecedented move
for both an artist and a concert promoter.
In addition, Victoria’s Secret announced that it will be the exclusive provider of the Spice Girls’ comeback album
during the 2007 holiday season (On a side note, I find it ironic that the name
of the Spice Girls’ greatest hit was “Wannabe.”).
Similarly, an Atlanta
radio station, 92.9 DaveFM,
recently released a CD exclusively at Atlanta-area Starbucks stores featuring
live, intimate, in-studio recordings of well-known artists from Guster to David
Gray. While I think a retailer like
Starbucks is a natural fit for selling CDs due to its atmosphere, I am interested
in seeing if Victoria’s Secret can pull off (sorry, no pun intended) a similar
feat.
I think the new world
order in terms of distribution will broaden the playing field in huge ways. However, is it enough to save the industry?
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