Comments on: Future Sound of Music http://www.brendonwilson.com/blog/2004/08/17/future-sound-of-music/ The personal web site of Brendon J. Wilson, a software developer, technologist, and entrepreneur living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:11:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jesse Malm http://www.brendonwilson.com/blog/2004/08/17/future-sound-of-music/comment-page-1/#comment-239 Jesse Malm Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.brendonwilson.com/blog/?p=177#comment-239 To look at what the market might look like in a few years, look at Asia. Pirating there is rampant and Western assumptions of "zero-cost economics" do not hold (the idea that one's morals or ethics gives something with no cost an inherent value). For example, HK bands have frequent TV appearances the form of concerts, talk shows, etc. but won't sell a lot of albums. This is because the market is small, people won't pay as much for a CD, and pirating is common. In many cases artists receive endorsements for clothing and advertisements as well. The quality of much of the music is questionable but in a laissez-faire market that is common in Asia, media/public appearances are the chosen way to make money. The point here is that successful artists have concentrated less on the music and more on their image. Good examples in NA are the Barenaked Ladies and Weird Al Yankovic, where their image sells as much as their music. Does it take away from the purity of the music? In many cases yes, but just because a piece of music is genius doesn't mean it makes money in cutthroat economies. To look at what the market might look like in a few years, look at Asia. Pirating there is rampant and Western assumptions of “zero-cost economics” do not hold (the idea that one’s morals or ethics gives something with no cost an inherent value). For example, HK bands have frequent TV appearances the form of concerts, talk shows, etc. but won’t sell a lot of albums. This is because the market is small, people won’t pay as much for a CD, and pirating is common. In many cases artists receive endorsements for clothing and advertisements as well.

The quality of much of the music is questionable but in a laissez-faire market that is common in Asia, media/public appearances are the chosen way to make money. The point here is that successful artists have concentrated less on the music and more on their image. Good examples in NA are the Barenaked Ladies and Weird Al Yankovic, where their image sells as much as their music. Does it take away from the purity of the music? In many cases yes, but just because a piece of music is genius doesn’t mean it makes money in cutthroat economies.

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