Monitored Alarm Systems

Techdirt Book Club book was in September Knockoff Economy: How Innovation Imitation Sparks

. Earlier this month, we came across a passage about the importance of "hackers". The second fragment is actually the end of the book, published after the "final" chapter, taking all the concepts in the book, and see how it can be applied to the music industry. We will arrange a time to discuss with the authors soon, so stay tuned.



In the final chapter of

economy Knockoff , tell the story of the decline of the music industry. During a crisis a decade driven by the rise of Napster and peer-to-peer - a development that the music industry has experienced an ineffective strategy around the implementation of copyright - Income The labels have been reduced by more than 60% since the beginning of Napster. And yet, there was nothing inevitable in this story of decline. Hollywood, for example, has fared better. No doubt, Hollywood is very concerned about piracy. However, although there are a lot of things, especially abroad, piracy was not a threat to the existence of major studios.

Why the fate of the film industry have been different? On the one hand, technology has given breather few years. The video files are much larger than music files. Accordingly were, until recently, relatively difficult to load and unload. More importantly, Hollywood learned from the end of the music industry. Hollywood responded, but in the context of a broader strategy aimed at all the possibilities offered by the Internet, while blunting the effect of piracy. Consider some of the details of the strategy as Hollywood success, because we believe that the future of music.



This future is related to the difference of past music. Copy music is easy and low risk of getting caught, which is unlikely to change. But simple does not mean that the death of creativity in music piracy. This does not mean the end of the benefits of music. Here are some ways the music industry can adapt - and in some cases, is already adapting - that mimic the strategies we have been deployed by copying another subject of creative industries.

music as an experience



Adaptation The most obvious change that the music industry sells product performance. As we explained earlier in

economy Knockoff

often products are easy to copy, but the results are not. One of the reasons to stay as creative chefs is that competitors can copy the recipe for a famous restaurant, but it is not as easy as copying the preparation or restaurant environment or service.



We will not repeat the discussion here, but we wish to emphasize the centrality of performance. Millions of people each year and attend concerts. A major change in performance never replace all revenue recording. But changing the business model from the product easy to copy (song or album) and difficult to replicate the performance (concert) can help stabilize the fortunes of musicians.



In many ways, it is simply a return to the reality of the last two centuries of popular music. This point was made with incredible clarity by Mick Jagger in a recent interview with the New York Times:

"There was a window in the 120 years of the music industry, where artists have a lot, a lot of money on records," says Jagger . "But it was a very small window -. Example 15 years, between 1975 and 1990"

The
was and the future will be much more on performance. In this new world records often function as more than concert listings as money makers themselves. (And sometimes included with concert tickets as the last album was Madonna.) Therefore, the copy is much less scary. An ad copy is just as effective - and perhaps more - than the original.

music as a social network



cost production and distribution of a product falls, basic economics predicts that more of the same will be produced and consumed. This axiom certainly applies to music as digital technologies have reduced the cost of production and distribution of music, we see an unprecedented number and variety of music on offer. But there is another change. Digital technologies also change the shape of the fruits of the music industry are distributed. At the height of the labels, a lot of revenue than expected was for them. This system produced a highly successful star, but many musicians - even very talented - little or nothing.



This situation is changing. Although mega-stars still exist, a larger class and stable musical environment emerge - artists who are able to make recordings, tours and the sale of goods for a decent life. Because these artists is cheaper to produce music a viable career is available on a smaller scale. And this can be done with less dependence on intermediaries such as record labels. The same technologies that have made music piracy very easy also facilitate direct communication between musicians and their fans.


Ask
singer Colbie Caillat. Caillet musical career began in 2005 when a friend sent several songs recorded at home on MySpace. A song, Bubbly, started coming-of-mouth among users of MySpace, and in a few months have passed virus. Soon Colbie Caillat is the # 1 unsigned artist on MySpace. Two years after the publication of Champagne, Caillet had over 200,000 friends on MySpace, and his songs have been played over 22 million times. Caillet had built a fan base world without ever leaving his home in Malibu. In 2007, Universal Records released his first album, Coco, which peaked at number five on the Billboard charts and reached platinum status.


Or ask
rap artist Mac Miller, Wale, J. And Cole. Each artist has built a fan base by releasing material for free on the Internet and interacting with fans on social networks and blogs. And in the space of two months in 2011, each issued a debut album that rose high in the charts (Mac Miller debut reached number one and sold 144,000 copies in its first week, Wale debuted at No. 2 the previous week and sold about 164,000 copies in its first week, a month before J. Cole album debuted at number 1,217,000 copies sold in its first week). The fans have hacked these albums - and even some of them. But thousands ponied money to buy them, perhaps in part by the appreciation of free mixtapes that had previously downloaded.

> Social media and the fan base have enabled him to obtain a degree in music from Colbie Caillat, Mac Miller, Wale and J. Cole, and are not the only one. Social Media in the United Kingdom has also beaten star Lily Allen, Kate Nash and Arctic Monkeys, among others. This illustrates an important aspect of the relationship between music and copying. Music lovers love music, and they often want to support those who make the music they love. The Internet becomes Pirates fans. But fans also became promoters. And the same technologies that piracy also restructuring the industry to create an entirely new relationship between the creator and the listener.

So how the industry is likely to change? Two trends are, in our opinion, the most important, both of which are from digital technologies. The first is the fragmentation of the audience in smaller and smaller as more music becomes available and therefore the universe much more various options. The second is the ability of small groups to communicate effectively with each other and with the artists they love.



What is likely to result from these changes? These are - relatively small groups, able to communicate easily - in which rules can help to regulate behavior. As described in Chapter 3

economy Knockoff
is precisely what we see in the world of stand-up comedy - there are some thousands of itinerant actors, as they often appear together in the same comedy clubs, to communicate easily. These conditions allow to control copying actors relying on copyright, but by social norms. Touring is essential for jamband culture, and allow fans to record their live performances. Many even encourage fans to share live recordings they make. Some groups have even set up special "candles" sections of live entertainment, and even fans to make recordings directly from the soundboard. And many jambands also establish rules under which certain records - band studio albums and several live recordings for special commercial distribution - can not be shared freely. The registration statement Grateful Dead is a typical example of these rules:
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