“Few people know the music industry better than Peter Jenner. Pink Floyd’s first manager, who subsequently managed Syd Barrett’s solo career, Jenner has also looked after T.Rex, The Clash, Ian Dury, Disposable Heroes and Billy Bragg – who he manages today. He’s also secretary general of the International Music Managers Forum,” Andrew Orlowski reports for The Register. “And he doesn’t pull his punches.”
Orlowski reports, The major four music labels today are “f*cked”, he says. Digital music pricing has been a scam where the consumer pays for manufacturing, distribution, and does all the work – and still has to pay more. Labels should outsource everything except finance and licensing.”
“But he’s also optimistic that for almost everyone else – indie labels, musicians, songwriters and budding entrepreneurs – as well as network providers – the future’s going to be pretty bright. The Big Four know that the DRM era is nearly over – and within two or three years, he predicts, “most countries” in the world will have a blanket licensing regime where we exchange music freely, for a couple of quid a month,” Orlowski reports.
Full interview here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Alden S.” for the heads up.]
Rock the Casbah, Apple!!!
I liked the big multi-page posters that used to come with my LPs. (nostalgic this morning, I am).
So he thinks subsciption is the future.. Un’limited music for a monthly fee. hmmm dont know bout that one.
Shhhhheeesssshhhh!!!
I upload my CDs, rip, burn and truck on. What DRM?? Apple has made it so easy that except for the fanatics, no one cares.
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N.
He might be right, personally I’m willing to put up with the Apple DRM in order that I can get hold of the odd single song here and there which I wouldn’t be able to do with physical media without paying for an entire album. Sure I wish songs were cheaper but I don’t see iTunes songs as being overly expensive – althouh how that money is broken down could be deemed a rip-off.
If you have to pay a monthly fee, you’re renting your music.
If there’s rent, there’s DRM.
I don’t get what this guy is talking about.
old guy talks about technology. who’s gonna follow? he is just wrong. subscription is not the future. exchange music freely? so musicians will be hard to pay back for their effort? just bullshit. it doesn’t matter he is Pink Floyd manager or not. it’s technology, not talked about music.
I thought the only reason iTunes has DRM is to placate the big labels. Would it be better for Apple if iTunes content was completely open, being that Apple only keeps a small fraction of the revenue, and even smaller fraction of the profit.
Would iPod sales still stay steady? I would think so, unless a competitor were to release a truely compelling product that matches or exceeds the iPod in quality, simplicity and appeal.
It’s been 2 years now that the iPod has been hip. That’s the long end of the life cycle of a fad. Yet the iPods popularity has shown no waning.
Dropping DRM may prove even more profitable for Apple and other distributors. I may also allow for more feirce competition, or the complete death of other distribution services.
@KP, Lazy Europeen and edward
He’s not talking about subscriptions to a music service, he’s alluding to a blanket charge (tax if you will) that you pay like your income taxes that will allow distribuion of music freely. No more DRM period.
MD Word: Try – as in try to keep up
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He’s talking about socialism. EVERYONE pays the gov’t a monthly fee and gets access to music, even if you don’t listen to any. Musicians get paid from this vast pool of money, whether they are good or not, popular, or not. And everyone lives in a happy utopia, or not.
He may know music, but his comments suggest he doesn’t know jack about technology and capitalism.
Another socialist Limey.
I think Apple will go for a subscription based model with iTunes.
Wouldn’t it be great if you have your Apple iTV connected to the internet and you can listen to all songs and watch all series in iTMS for a monthly fee. In the same way you can watch trailers within Frontrow.
Subscription didn’t work, in this way it will. Because you have all your stuff exactly where you want it. You can watch movies on your TV, you can hook up your iTV to your stereo, or use Airport Express instead.
MW: Brown, would a brown iPod be cool?
So, help me understand how this would work. How does this system actually compensate people who produce music people like or want to listen to. How does it differentiate between a person who, for say lack of talent, produces music that no one really likes or wants to listen to, from someone that produces music that is very popular and many people listen to? Do they both get paid the same amount? How does this work? With song or album sales you have a built in way of keeping track or rewarding those who produce something people want – with a flat tax/fee on everyone to allow the free exchange of music – who decides how that tax/fee is apportioned?
Have any of you actually listened to Billy Bragg? Sounds like his manager is just as much of a loony on the commie left as Billy is. You can safely ignore that comment.
I think they should just make a version of iTunes that like a jukebox in a Bar where you pay a license fee and you can put on and play any song you want
Why do people keep stealing my creative work? It’s really depressing.
What’s the use of creating music, and trying to make a little living from it, when no one seems to care a sh*t about respecting creative work.
The majority of what I hear about now is how everyon is ripping CDs, giving copies to friends, putting them on the net and a general ‘f*uck the musicians’ attitude because it’s all so easy to do and digital rights are evil…
What kind of world are you people living in? How would you like it if musicians came into your house or business and made copies of the work you do for a living and gave it away to everyone?
Virek,
So basically the world ends up with a BBC-like solution? Everybody who buys a tv pays a content usage fee on top of the cost of the unit? And/Or a montly tax?
No thanks. In any scenario I would always rather have the freedom to pay for my music, piece by piece, or not to pay and not have it. That’s a choice I want to make sure doesn’t go away.
Amen Sunra, Amen.
Pirating is bad for the industry. Period. (Besides being illegal).
I don’t mind occassionally burning an album for a friend, but there is payoff. When they have a taste of that artist, they’ll start buying more.
No profitability = No new artists/music = dying industry.
Don’t believe ANYTHING Orlowski says about DRM or about Apple. He’s been on a crusade (sometimes a stupidly blind crusade) against both for over five years. If you want to believe ANYTHING he says about either DRM or Apple find a much, much better and accurate source.
Why on earth does anyone here think Apple will go with a subscription route when subscription services are constantly failing and Apple’s model is getting bigger and bigger?
Um… actually, The Clash and Pink Floyd are dead. One of them literally.
Harsh, but true.
All production stands or falls on its own merits. Whether it be a movie, play, or record, consumers focus on what matters to them. We reward the good stuff.
Peter is very astute to point out that we have been paying for a lot more than proper compensation to the artist. The consumer has always been picking up the tab for overhead, i.e., monetary advances, promotion, distribution, and reclamation as well as the handsome salaries for everyone in the food chain.
Online music is changing that whole creative/logistic paradigm and someone like Peter knows it, so let’s give credit where credits due. I’m glad he’s speaking up and I think he’s earned the right.
When Apple opened its doors to the indy labels they signaled to all that you don’t need the weight of the major labels to peddle your wares. In essence Apple is giving voice to hundreds of everyday folks to be heard and if they have the chops they stand to prosper.
It’s a win win. The musician stands to earn more per sale because he doesn’t have to support the music machinery and I, as the consumer, no longer have to support an antiquated silken industry who still has their hand out long after you’ve shaken it as part of some twisted scheme to compensate for the non-productive value of nine other songs on the album.
Musicians and Independent labels held a conference five years ago at the Nation’s capital to address the future of musicians and the policies that shape the business and guess who was a no-show? Yup, that’s right… the major music labels!
These bastards have long had unfettered access to the policy-makers and have clung tightly to the schema that has paid for their lavish lifestyles and the advances of shitty musicians who never panned out, but those days are at an end. DRM was implemented to preserve the industry leaders paychecks and not to guarantee the creative person his fair share!!
Fsck that noise, it’s drowning out the signal!
Orlowski writes an article claiming that DRM is dead. Who’da thunk?
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If you have to pay a monthly fee, you’re renting your music.
If there’s rent, there’s DRM.
I don’t get what this guy is talking about.
I pay a monthly fee to emusic and there is no drm associated with the files I download, they are plain mp3 files. I can do whatever I want with them, even burn it to disc 100 times if so I wish…
Cost of this: 25 cents per track.
What I don’t get is to buy a whole album on iTunes. Why pay 10 bucks for a digital album without disc, jewel case and printed artwork when you can get it all for 12 bucks on CD Uinverse of Amazon or your local retailer?
Don’t get me wrong, Apple made a great system with the iTunes/iPod ecosytem, but it still doesn’t make sense to get whole albums from the iTunes store.