I enjoy music & mainly listen to it while travelling. But I don’t really remember the last time I bought an original Music CD (Actually, I do. It was the MJ No. 1 Hits). Most of my music comes from this little shop in the market which sells pirated MP3 CDs or is downloaded off the internet for free (burn it on a CD and you are ready to go)! On the other hand, my brother in law is dead against piracy. He will always buy the originals. Which brings me to my question – “Am I really killing Music??”
I am fairly a law abiding citizen, but I just don’t see the sense in buying music (or even movie CDs) anymore. Why would I buy something which is freely available on the net? Why should I buy the original CD, when the pirated CD is almost as good, has much more music on it and is much cheaper?
Actually, I have a little theory I have propounded to support my act of buying/downloading music illegally. I believe its people like me that have lead to a major revolution in the way Music is consumed. We were the reason why ITUNES happened. We were the reason people didn’t have to buy whole albums and could just pick tracks they really liked. We basically lead the music industry to Innovation. We should be taking credit for that. Not the people who bought music legally.
Did we put musicians out of business? If musicians are not making as much money as they used to, maybe it’s because they didn’t get their business model right. Maybe the musicians and the record companies were so busy complaining and trying to protect themselves against piracy that they forgot to reinvent the business model. The world has seen enough business models where the consumer gets the service for free, yet the company ends up making billions. Think Google, think Facebook, or Rediff & Youtube. Maybe because these companies lacked legacy. Maybe because they really started thinking of the business afresh.
So, are the musicians & the record companies adapting to the changing scenario? Sure, they are. Companies like Moser Baer are releasing original movies for Rs. 35 – Rs. 50 (down from Rs. 250 a couple of years ago), which is almost as much as a pirated CD would cost. Artists are releasing their music directly on the net & asking fans to pay as much as they would like to, for the music downloaded. ITUNES provides music at reasonable prices and that’s why it makes so much money. A lot of artists are also relying more on live performances than ever before.
What’s the point of this – Do what you love to do. Do what you want to do. Do the thing that inspires you. But find a bloody good business model that helps you make money of it. There always is one. Cause if you are doing what you do and have not got the B model right … Well your husband/wife will not let you sleep in peace. Cause the bills need to be paid. Cause the kids need to go to school.
So find the business model. Stop looking at the conventional ways in which the business was done for years. Learn from the past, but don’t look for answers cause they may not always be there. Reinvent your wheel. If you are doing excellent work, you deserve the money!