In the past five years, growth in this part of the music world has exploded by billions of dollars and the focus has moved from buying music to living it. Music festivals have skyrocketed in popularity over the past decade, finding the United States looking more and more like Europe with regards to dance music culture. At the same time, global music sales have dropped significantly, as more music becomes available for free.
Even in 2012, it was crystal clear that times were changing.
Kaskade points out the laws that govern the consumption of music were written in a time when our lives, both real and online, were totally different. People just don’t buy music anymore. The law needs to catch up.
Innovation helps the music industry. The industry only needs to make the effort to keep up and adapt. Make no mistake: exposing as many people as possible to music – all music – is a good thing. Everyone wins. …If a person likes one song, then you know what’s likely to happen? They’ll press the download arrow and own it for free. You won’t believe what happens next! They become familiar with the artist, and seek out other material. Maybe they buy that. Maybe they talk about it online. Maybe they go to a show. Maybe they simply become a fan and tell a friend.
It will be interesting to see how the legal realm changes in response to innovation in the music industry that is turning old ideas about how money can be made on their ear. Though it’s unfortunate for Kaskade and his fans, the fact is that it takes events like these to bring problems to the surface and get us to question the status-quo of the rules and regulations that govern our world. The music world has changed, and in our lifetimes we hope to see a more open world and a culture that encourages listening and sharing. We cannot express it more beautifully than Kaskade:
Let the people have the music. Or, to put it in language that makes more sense for the ones who can only speak dollar bill – Free the music, and your cash will follow.
What do you think about the trend towards open sharing of music online? Do you agree with Kaskade that we should remove the barriers from sharing, or do you have ideas for a different approach to making sure credit and payment are exchanged at the right time?
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