Finally newspapers are working out a decent way to survive in the digital world. At long last, they realised that the broadsheet is awkward in a compact world and, the old farts in record company boardrooms are fighting the computer whizkids at their own game. The Guardian already does it with EMI records and launched their partnership during this year’s Glastonbury festival. Pepsi does it with Apple’s iPod – although one wonders who doesn’t, as Mac prostitute themselves with every media whore around. Burger King does it with Time Warner while McDonalds are doing it with Sony, albeit with games rather than music. However, some clever fellow at Coca Cola has come up with the ambiguously titled ‘myCokemusic.com’. Presumably myEmusic.com will be launched this Xmas to give the public big pianos, firing drum rolls and 15 minute breakdowns for the sweaty, red faced raver.
Rather than devaluing music by giving it away the latest initiative has a dual purpose and aims to curb piracy and open new markets. It means that readers wont have to listen to the detritus chosen by marketing dudes, or is that duds? No doubt there is some sad David Brent caricature in marketing that thinks that they are actually educating us by slipping in some unknown artist or album track that they think has been over looked. Importantly it also means that people, like sheep, are being steered toward the future music market without noticing the clear redirection away from the illegal sites.
Download sites are hugely popular but they haven’t replaced traditional forms of music recording, such as CDs and Vinyl, just yet; however, they will. If truth be told CDs have replaced vinyl. Apart from the vinyl renaissance of the 1990s via DJ culture and dance music the new multimedia turntable from Technics and software like Final Scratch and Ableton where a DJ can use his laptop to record, play and even edit tunes, point to a future where wax is replaced by silicon. When you think about it, it is probably for the best. Increasingly it is difficult to smoke in bars and clubs and soon you wont be allowed to get drunk, so maybe live streaming via broadband into our homes will ameliorate the clubbing experience.
The future is definitely among us today and with the proliferation of high-speed Internet access and bigger and better computers the next generation of 15-24 year olds will collect music as MP3s or wav files. Don’t worry, if you don’t know your MP3 from your jpeg because the digital revolution will be a live interactive broadcast, so press the red button on your remote and enjoy. Sit back, relax and learn as the boffins re-invent the music industry and the dancehall experience.
The music industry, as we know it, is changing.
