RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK)
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- General Discussion on RNWK
- Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [view article]
- Music Industry Downfall: The Rise of Social Streaming [view article]
- Will Music Sales Be Profitable for Record Companies in Ten Years? [view article]
- Music Downloads: You Can't Regulate One Industry and Leave Another Alone [view article]
- RealNetworks' Rhapsody: Givin' Away Free Stuff [view article]
- Rhapsody's New e-Music Download Service Takes on iTunes [view article]
- Power Generation, Count Me In - Cramer's Lightning Round (7/11/08) [view article]
- Online Sales: Poking Holes in the Long Tail Theory [view article]
- Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [view article]
- Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [view article]
- RealNetwork's Rhapsody Gets Mac-Enabled -- Positive Buzz Ensues (RNWK, AAPL) [view article]
- The Music Biz: Something Important Is On The Horizon [view article]
loading ...Recent RNWK Articles
- Will Apple Start an iTunes Subscription Service?
- Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News
- Will Music Sales Be Profitable for Record Companies in Ten Years?
- Music Downloads: You Can't Regulate One Industry and Leave Another Alone
- Online Sales: Poking Holes in the Long Tail Theory
- RealNetworks' Rhapsody: Givin' Away Free Stuff
- Rhapsody's New e-Music Download Service Takes on iTunes
- Monday Options Update: C, MYGN, TSN, LLTC, F, GM, BEC, RNWK
- Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News
- Music Industry Downfall: The Rise of Social Streaming
- Full List of Articles »
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Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [view article]
Healthcare and legacy costs are partially to blame, but the UAW is, in my opinion, more of the culprit. I worked for Ford and experienced the ridiculousness of all of the red tape first hand. The UAW is nothing more than a leech. From the union reps who do nothimg more than walk the floor and shake hands, to the stupid rules pertaining to job classification, unions are a big reason why AMerican car makers are struggling. Hell, in my plant (Sterling Heights plant on Mound road for Ford) we had a guy making over 100k a year and he was a damn floor cleaner!On Aug 01 07:24 PM brian58 wrote:
> It isn't the unions that has caused the downfall of GM. It is healthcare
> costs for retirees. GM can compete against Toyota. It cannot compete
> against Japan. If we had universal health care coverage in this country
> and American companies could get out of having to offer healthcare
> benefits to it's employees then GM would be in better shape. And
> before someone starts screaming about socialized medicine let me
> state a few observations. Healthcare is not free. It costs money
> to provide good healthcare and money is a finite resource. Everyone
> has an obligation to take care of themselves by eating right, exercising
> and not smoking. (Tobacco companies use to get government subsidies,
> why shouldn't lung cancer patients) But every American citizen has
> a right to decent healthcare. One of the things that made America
> great was the availability of a free education to everyone, just
> not for the rich. Modern medical technology is expensive. Some CEO
> shouldn't get rich by saying no to the insurance company saying no
> to my medical care. Why would you want to be part of a society that
> put greed above the well being of it's citizens regardless of economic
> class. Let's have compassionate capitalism in America. Money isn't
> isn't evil but the love of money is or so they say. Reply
Music Industry Downfall: The Rise of Social Streaming [view article]
Social streaming and music discovery have definitely been leading the way in musical experience not consumption. Food is consumed not music. The future of music distribution and discovery (if things go right) will include:- Unlimited access to music whether through subscription services or free through visual or audio ads.
- All your music will be in one place where you can access it through your phone, PC, car, TV, ipod....etc.
- Musicians will own the rights to their music and be in direct contact with their fans.
- Record labels will still be around but with an altered role of providing the artist with marketing, musical collaboration/help, PR...etc
- More and more break out artists will be discovered virally.
- We will finally start finding real artists and music that we want to hear and not what producers and record executives think we want.
Cheers
-Shaun
Reply
Will Music Sales Be Profitable for Record Companies in Ten Years? [view article]
As others have said above, physical music sales may not exist!!! There are a growing number of 'smart' people in the music industry (esp indie) that are giving away their music for 'free' - whether that's via a "promo download card" (I've seen a number of these handed out that came from discrevolt.com), on their myspace, personal website or blog.The the new model for artists will be: give my recorded music to fans for free and let them support me in other ways (coming to my show, buying my merch, etc.)
The new model for labels will be that of a "digital label" whereby the "label" is used by the musician (that's a change!) to promote its music through the web.
There are, however, still plenty of profit avenues (think ad revenue) in the above model. Some smart people who are not afraid of change will make some serious money in the near future in the music industry.
Reply
Will Music Sales Be Profitable for Record Companies in Ten Years? [view article]
As others have said above, physical music sales may not exist!!! There are a growing number of 'smart' people in the music industry (esp indie) that are giving away their music for 'free' - whether that's via a "promo download card" (I've seen a number of these handed out that came from discrevolt.com), on their myspace, personal website or blog.The the new model for artists will be: give my recorded music to fans for free and let them support me in other ways (coming to my show, buying my merch, etc.)
The new model for labels will be that of a "digital label" whereby the "label" is used by the musician (that's a change!) to promote its music through the web.
There are, however, still plenty of profit avenues (think ad revenue) in the above model. Some smart people who are not afraid of change will make some serious money in the near future in the music industry.
Reply
Will Music Sales Be Profitable for Record Companies in Ten Years? [view article]
As others have said above, physical music sales may not exist!!! There are a growing number of 'smart' people in the music industry (esp indie) that are giving away their music for 'free' - whether that's via a "promo download card" (I've seen a number of these handed out that came from discrevolt.com), on their myspace, personal website or blog.The the new model for artists will be: give my recorded music to fans for free and let them support me in other ways (coming to my show, buying my merch, etc.)
The new model for labels will be that of a "digital label" whereby the "label" is used by the musician (that's a change!) to promote its music through the web.
There are, however, still plenty of profit avenues (think ad revenue) in the above model. Some smart people who are not afraid of change will make some serious money in the near future in the music industry.
Reply
Will Music Sales Be Profitable for Record Companies in Ten Years? [view article]
I encourage the music industry to read Chris Anderson because Music is going to be free and it will need to seek a different business model. ReplyLathrop
Will Music Sales Be Profitable for Record Companies in Ten Years? [view article]
I have represented many people (pro bono) who have been sued by the Recording Industry Association of America. My colleague Ray Beckerman has a web site where he details the lengths that the RIAA goes in order to try to capture their crumbling market share.recordingindustryvspeo... Reply
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [view article]
It isn't the unions that has caused the downfall of GM. It is healthcare costs for retirees. GM can compete against Toyota. It cannot compete against Japan. If we had universal health care coverage in this country and American companies could get out of having to offer healthcare benefits to it's employees then GM would be in better shape. And before someone starts screaming about socialized medicine let me state a few observations. Healthcare is not free. It costs money to provide good healthcare and money is a finite resource. Everyone has an obligation to take care of themselves by eating right, exercising and not smoking. (Tobacco companies use to get government subsidies, why shouldn't lung cancer patients) But every American citizen has a right to decent healthcare. One of the things that made America great was the availability of a free education to everyone, just not for the rich. Modern medical technology is expensive. Some CEO shouldn't get rich by saying no to the insurance company saying no to my medical care. Why would you want to be part of a society that put greed above the well being of it's citizens regardless of economic class. Let's have compassionate capitalism in America. Money isn't isn't evil but the love of money is or so they say. ReplyWill Music Sales Be Profitable for Record Companies in Ten Years? [view article]
There's a major disconnect in perception here. The labels have a lot of room to squeeze profits out of their music products. They don't HAVE to spend so much on signing, recording, and promoting acts that it requires 500,000 sales to be profitable. The emerging so-called 360 deals are an attempt to do things differently but even they are front loading the bet against a proven talent that may or may not pay off. The cost model has to change to put the money where it counts instead of spraying cash hoping to hit the target. Put simply, the labels spend to much on the hope of a products potential rather than shifting that spending to a later point in the product life cycle to focus the spending on products that are actually performing.The labels have access to big media outlets to promote their artist but do so inefficiently. They can profit just fine if they stop wasting so many marketing dollars. If my label can profit beginning at 1500 sales, why can't theirs? If I can ramp up marketing spending based on a products performance why can't they? Of course the scale is different but the math is simple. Spend smarter. Reply
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [view article]
I worked for TWA and was a union member for 34 yrs. TWA went thru 2 bankruptcies. The I.A.M. slept with TWA. Unions are a waste at this time. They were great in the beginning but useless now.If you fly straight you don't need them. If you have problems there is the Labor Board. Reply
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [view article]
Splitting up SM and FM into private units to sell to the private markets assumes that there will be somebody to serve the tax payers best interest during the process. There has been a real shortage of concern for the tax payers during this debacle. Having Paulson, one of the true robber barons of our time heading the deal could be a reason. Having a group of entitled Ivy types telling us what they need to do to save us from what they were responsible for in the first place could be another problem. ReplyWill Music Sales Be Profitable for Record Companies in Ten Years? [view article]
Apple offers all the labels a much higher-quality, DRM free format called "iTunes +". But EMI is about the only one to use it. I guess the labels don't want our money after all. It doesn't cost them any more money to improve the product and increase sales, but they aren't interested.When are the Beatles coming out in remastered digital? That is taking forever. Reply
Will Music Sales Be Profitable for Record Companies in Ten Years? [view article]
I meant to add that 'quality' is a subjective and culture driven concept - todays music fans are mostly VERY happy with the quality of MP3 files - its not up to 'audiophiles' to set some arbitrary standards for others.Eventually high quality sound files, exceeding that of all other files, will be available.
It still wont save a dying business. Reply
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [view article]
long_on_oilThe reason that GM was "forced" to abandon future planning for high oil prices was unions? Certainly that is part of the equation, but it is disingenuous not to recognize also that trying to maximize income statements quarter to quarter is a major factor in the lack of proper longer term strategy.
Maximizing quarterly income results works great when the existing strategy is good for the long haul but can lead to disaster when the current strategy is short-sighted. Reply
Will Music Sales Be Profitable for Record Companies in Ten Years? [view article]
Music isnt an 'essential service', so it can decline when people decide that they have more importnant things to spend cash on.30 years ago, most people had older cars and did work themselves, but now, most have newer cars.
30 years ago no-one had a personal computer with the ability to get digitised files of all types from out of a wire - now they do.
Owning a personal computer costs about $500 - $700 year, at least.
This money comes directly from Music, Movies, etc.
Music has always had a low priority - its just sound - and it is impossible for the Music Biz to suddenly give it 'added value' - if they coulda, they woulda.
Digitised files, easy sharing with friends, buy only the tracks you like, other things to spend your cash on.
Music is settling to its level, according to the wishes of consumers, and the competition for the consumer dollar.
Music, although I love it, just does NOT have the dollar value that the Music Biz thinks it does.
They have a business that is horribly anachronistic, but they wont accept that.
Too bad. Amazon, Apple, etc are the new music businesses - its only a matter of time before artists will go DIRECT to the digital file providers.
Then the game will be over for EMI, Universal, and the rest. Reply