Perhaps they'll reconsider suing people for more than they're worth...

Looks like EMI is considering cutting its funding to the RIAA and IFPI. Finally, they may have realized that it's not prudent to fund a war against your customers. Will they go through with it? Will anyone follow their lead? Or will the beaurocracy of the industry prevent any drastic measures? Only time will tell.

Answers?

I just posted a question on Yahoo! Answers and LinkedIn Answers: What influences or would influence you to purchase music? It's only ten minutes in and obviously a very limited sample size, but the responses so far seem to indicate that many respondents only purchase music if they can't find a free download of it. Will that trend continue through the next few days of responses? If so, what can bands do to get to their listeners pocketbooks? And does that profit have to come through album sales (and if not, what alternatives can exist)?
Voice your opinion here, or comment on this blog.

Universal CEO admits tech cluelessness

As another indicator of how technology has a major opportunity to overtake (and save) the music industry, Universal Music CEO Doug Morris admitted in a forthcoming Wired interview to having no idea what to do about technology.
"There's no one in the record industry that's a technologist," Morris explains. "That's a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn't. They just didn't know what to do. It's like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?"
Personally, I would hire a vet. But to Morris, even that wasn't an option. "We didn't know who to hire," he says, becoming more agitated. "I wouldn't be able to recognize a good technology person — anyone with a good bullshit story would have gotten past me."
Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't a major part of the CEOs job to be in tune with market trends and to adapt his or her company to them? He may not personally understand technology, but he does run a major corporation with thousands of employees and a massive budget--surely he could've found a few people around him to explore and learn about what it might take to at least keep up with technology?
Apparently not. But at least that leaves a door open for the rest of us...

Original quote from NYMag.com

The Basic Premise

The basic premise of having this forum is that the music industry is in a good bit of turmoil right now and thus is succeptable to new innovations. This discussion is based around trying to find what some of the best ways to go about fostering change in the music industry are, specifically with regards to internet technologies. In simpler terms: the music industry is fucked and we want to know what comes next.
To do so, I am assembling vetrans and innovators alike from various ends of the music industry--from self-promoting artists to producers to label executives. Together, we will address the wants and needs of each party involved and try to plot out a path towards a solution that will leave all parties happy and profitable.
Some of the big questions we seek to answer over the course of the discussion include: What do artists/labels/etc want and need to survive? What do listeners and fans want and need? Will the future of the industry function within a label system? Or independently? What are artists willing to pay for? What are listeners willing to pay for? Perhaps most importantly, what drives a consumer to spend money that can be filtered to a band--and from that, is selling music the most profitable model for artists? And what alternatives can exist?
Obviously, some of these questions have easier answers than others. The hope is by creating a discussion amongst a diverse, intelligent, interested, and informed group, we may stumble upon something that may become an element in the future of music, and something that technology can help facilitate. And at the very least, it should be a fun and interesting discussion for all those involved--a conversation that you don't get to have every day.