Attention Record Companies:
Technology Changes All
by Ross Lasley
It is easy to understand why there are almost no shoe repair shops anymore. Technology made it possible to mass produce good shoes, that same technology lowered the price to the point that shoes weren’t worth repairing – to put it another way: When was the last time you took your VCR in to the electronics repair shop?
We see this happening to the record industry today – and while legal maneuvering may delay the inevitable – their demise is assured.
Let’s take a look at what the recording industry really provides and why each segment of that is in deep trouble thanks to technology.
The Studio
Record companies have traditionally maintained recording studios for rent by the hour, the cost to create such a facility was usually more than a million dollars. Technology has created a revolution here – a good PC replaces that expensive soundboard and the cost of producing good microphones has come way down. The result? Bands are now going home for 3-6 months instead of to ‘the studio’. Three to four thousand dollars will give a musician a solid recording experience at their own home.
The Distribution
Relationships with record stores and other retailers created a network, musicians had to get on board to have an album that sold well. CD sales are plummeting today and it is foolish to think consumer choice isn’t the biggest reason. (Europe has copy protected CD’s in place, and sales there are falling faster than in the US.) Consumers have changed the way in which they wish to purchase music – people are interested in paid commercial free radio in all forms (XM, digital music channels on TV), people want to control their music collections digitally, and most importantly consumers are aware of how easy it is to just buy an album online and burn their own.
This is really similar to the difference between Amazon and a bookstore – even the biggest bookstore has a small fraction of the available titles that Amazon does.
The Promotion
Relationships with newspapers, radio stations, and the industry press made it very difficult for musicians to get noticed without a powerful label. Today we see that technology has changed the way in which the most influential music buying group – young people – communicate about music. How many teenage boys read Rolling Stone Magazine? How many use Yahoo music reviews where they can post their own thoughts about the tunes?
The Conclusion
Record labels provide studios, distributions, and promotion – and all of these services are being dramatically impacted by technology.
What you need to know
It is easy to understand what will happen to the record industry, but can you step back and see that for your own business? What changes in the way humans interact with technology will have an impact on your business? Will you take steps to change the goods and services you provide?
A good 2004 planning step is to make a list of the way you think technology will impact your business in the next five or ten years, that will make it much easier to plan for those inevitable changes.
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 Tech Tip |
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by Michael McGrath
It's that time of year when everyone writes their wish list for Santa, and your computer is no different. What's on your computer's list this year? What could you get, what could you do, for your system this year that would be special? We've a couple of suggestions for you to consider.
Defragment its hard drive.
Windows includes a defragmenting tool, and you'll find it in the Start> Accessories> System Tools menu. What does it do? Over time, parts of the files you save on your hard drive become scattered (not contiguous), sort of like parts of a song on a record album becoming separated so that the needle has to jump from the outer part of the record to the inner part, or over to the other side, in order to play the song correctly from beginning to end. That scattering effect is referred to as being fragmented. This tool will de-fragment those files (make them continguous) so that it is easy to access them. Your hard drive will function more smoothly, and your system will love you for it.
For those who still have not installed anti-virus software or a firewall, I will tell you these make lovely stocking stuffers.
We've recommended in past issues of IAGTM the anti-virus software Avast!. As for firewalls, we've also recommended Zone Alarm in past issues. And, hey you humbugs, they're both freebies.
Clean up your hard drive, and then protect it from nasty invasions during the coming year. You'll make your computer very happy, and you'll be rewarded with a smooth running system in the coming year, safe from unwanted intrusions. |
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