Trent Reznor Fixing Music Industry?
There is an interesting article in The Campus Word which asks if Trent Reznor's recent efforts with the release of Ghosts are single-handedly fixing the music industry.
The record industry's business model has, for a while, been based on physical objects. You are not buying a license to listen to music, you are buying a plastic disc for your CD player. But as physical distribution models become increasingly antiquated, the record industry has had to deal with changes. Obviously, people who have no interest in having a physical disc are not paying for it – but are they paying for files, are they paying for bytes, or are they paying for a license to listen to specific songs?
The industry has struggled to answer these questions, and has largely tried to shoehorn their existing business model into the information age. Songs come with DRM on them which essentially allow the industry to treat a collection of files as though it was a physical object, which has limitations or where it can be moved, how it can (or cannot) be copied, and where it can be played. To the industry, this seemed like an acceptable way of embracing changes in technology, but the popularity of music piracy indicates that this is not enough for many people.
People have now come to believe that, when they buy an album, they are buying an album that they can do with what they please. If they want to listen to it on their portable music player, they believe they should be able to. If they want to burn it to CD to play it in their car, they believe they should. If they lose the CD and wish to reburn it, they see no reason that should be a problem. Effectively, people want to buy a license to listen to the album however they please, but the music industry is refusing to sell that.
Trent Reznor truly is indicating that you can allow your consumers to acquire and listen to music in a way that feels natural for them, and still make money. The success of his venture indicates that, to a great extent, he really is single-handedly fixing the music industry. If the record industries can observe this trend and make modifications to their distribution models, they may be able to pull themselves out of the financial slump in which they currently find themselves.
