Home » Jazz Articles » Book Review » The Future of the Music Business: How to Succeed With Th...

345

The Future of the Music Business: How to Succeed With The New Digital Technologies

By

View read count
The Future Of The Music Business: How To Succeed With The New Digital Technologies
Steve Gordon
362 pages (second edition)
ISBN: 00331939 paper
Hal Leonard
2008



Much has been written about the steady decline of CD sales and the rise of illegal downloading. The record industry has scrambled for a solution, only to alienate many of its customers with lawsuits targeting everyone accused of file sharing from students to grandmothers. None of this has stemmed the tide of illegal downloading.

Steve Gordon's The Future Of The Music Business addresses the problems the music industry faces and offers up some possible solutions. This second edition updates the reader on recent technologies and how they can benefit musicians and entrepreneurs. Additionally, the book comes with a CD-ROM that includes interviews, internet resources and up to the minute updates on the book.

Gordon begins with the basics of music law and how the new digital technologies fit in. He explains the new ways consumers discover and procure music such as webcasting, downloading and interactive streaming. Gordon believes that the record industry's refusal to adapt to and accept newer technologies has cost labels and their artists dearly. He illustrates how various lawsuits have done nothing to stop illegal downloading. In fact, this practice has only increased since 2000. He presents blanket licensing fees, as employed by performing rights societies, as one possible solution to the problem. With a blanket fee, consumers would pay a yearly (or monthly) flat fee to gain access to music on the internet. He points out that publishing-sector bodies such as ASCAP, BMI and SESAC are not beset by the same financial woes that record companies face.

Gordon concludes with ideas for artists promoting their music on the internet. He includes interviews with musicians using new technology to advance their careers, such as Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun and jazz musician Dave Samuels. He also devotes chapters to artists who have started their own record companies, online record stores and video webcasting.

An entertainment lawyer by profession, Gordon has written a book that, of necessity, is filled with legal terminology and dry business concepts. That being said, he makes these ideas accessible and easy to understand. The Future Of The Music Business is an important read for anyone associated with the music industry. As the fate of many record companies hang in the balance, their future literally depends on it.

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Popular

Read Take Five with Pianist Irving Flores
Read Jazz em Agosto 2025
Read Bob Schlesinger at Dazzle
Read SFJAZZ Spring Concerts
Read Sunday Best: A Netflix Documentary
Read Vivian Buczek at Ladies' Jazz Festival

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.