The Music Industry vs. Guitar Hero
Derek forwarded me an article from Wired talking about the dynamics between Guitar Hero and the music industry. It’s good reading and illustrative of the issues that plague the record industry these days. Namely, that it’s run by a bunch of terrific assholes.
Edgar Bronfman is quoted as saying “The amount being paid to the music industry, even though [these] games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small,”
How hilarious is this? How totally insane is a statement like that? These guys just do not get it. Hey dudes, time for another conference on the future of the music industry. Go put a Powerpoint together!
The music industry seems intent on killing the any goose that lays any egg be it golden, silver, brown or plaid. They finally have something succesful on their hands. One that gets people interested in music again, gets people willing to pay for music, and does all of it in an atmosphere that is good clean fun.
There are so many strategic opportunities represented by the onset of music role-playing video games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band.
And these guys still can’t get it!
Seriously, it would be very difficult to make this stuff up. These guys are just so damn nostalgic about the golden days of the music industry they can’t seem to accept what is plainly in front of them. Their traditional business is getting smaller. They need to innovate or die. Instead, they hire a bunch of lawyers to prowl the Internet, issue cease and desist letters to upstart companies, and try to renegotiate the only deals that actually are working for them. Meanwhile, this takes place with a tone of stern admonition like we’re all petulant children because we’re not interested in making these idiots rich anymore.
Here we are in the gray middle world where Edgar Bronfman can still get a quote in a technology magazine, where they still own the licenses and IP on a huge library of valuable content and where they still have a say. The limbo period where people still, unfortunately, are buying CDs even though the trend is steeply down.
So we have to listen and care. How boring is this? Please, please. Just go away. Your presence is no longer required in this conversation.
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Guitar for Beginners
