Universal Music Group Lawsuits Stifle Innovation
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is clearly frustrated. Reznor has always been smart about using the internet to connect with his fans, but in a recent update to his site he details how the Universal Music Group lawsuit against YouTube is preventing him from growing his audience and building a community around his music.
It’s a nice example of how the music industry continues to both stifle innovation and leave huge amounts of money on the floor while using the courts to desperately hold on tight to the antiquated ways they’ve made money in the past.
Reznor’s post is a great read not just for his POV on the legal brouhaha but also for the way he approaches communications with his fans.
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Great story. But also sounds like Trent is unwilling to take responsibility himself for his fans’ actions:
“…Because of this they no longer will host our remix site, and are insisting that Nine Inch Nails host it. In exchange for this they will continue to let me upload my Universal masters and make them available to fans, BUT shift the liability of hosting them to me.
Part of the arrangement is having user licenses that the fans sign (not unlike those on MySpace or You Tube) saying they will not use unauthorized materials. If they WERE to do such a thing, everybody sues everybody and the world abruptly ends…”
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Looking at the future of entertainment, Universal should take heed in innovators such as NIN and Radiohead. One of the biggest marketing mistakes was to stifle Napster instead of running with it…
User generated material will grow like wildfire as the writers strike continues. Opportunity is knocking, will someone get the door?
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:46 pm
November 24th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
UMG is not only leaving money on the floor, but they’re leaving it on the table, too.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Here is more good commentary on this subject. I think the business is changing, but I don’t think you can blame the labels for missing Napster. I DO think you blame them for forcing crap down consumers throats, which only led to Napster’s success…
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/11/wireds-seth-mnookin-has-written.html
and
http://www.coolfer.com/blog/archives/2007/11/wired_talks_to.php
December 14th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
First and foremost I am willing to bet it will take at least another decade before the labels figure this whole internet thing out. I remember being in meetings with them in 2000 trying to talk them out of selling digital downloads with a price point of $1.-50-3.00 per song that was in a format of less quality than a CD. We can’t get them to let digital song samples on iTunes, eMusic, etc go longer than 30 seconds, which is definitely not enough time to get a feel for a 4 minute song so asking them to understand allowing fans to remix music that they (or some other publisher) owns is harder than figuring out how to effectively get a manned spacecraft to Neptune. The music industry has run on the same model for decades and it’s so ingrained in their heads that understanding what their fans want is nearly impossible. Ever since the digital era the only people who have understood the fans wants and desires are the artists themselves. Heck, it was indie artists who made MySpace what it is today. Believe me you won’t see labels, who use MySpace as a marketing tool now, utilize MySpace like Mike Woods of Damone does. Take a look at http://www.myspace.com/michaelw475 and see how actively he keeps the content fresh.
September 2nd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
wow !!
its very reasonable point of view.
Nice post.
realy good post
thx
March 16th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
gr8 resrch bro