Compact discs, we hardly knew ye.
Economist: In 2006 EMI, the world's fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. "That was the moment we realised the game was completely up," says a person who was there.
Update: Kafka explains the "fruit and flowers" budget.
It's generational. The target generation is listening to MP3's downloaded, shared, ripped or whatever between friends. I'm OLD SCHOOL, at least I buy the CD of artists I enjoy, even knowing their barely benefit from my purchase.
The business is broken and the artists are realizing that in the recorded music sales business, the artists get little to nothing. There's no incentive for them to participate, especially now that they have better access to their fans.
Posted by: Don Moore | Jan 12, 2008 at 03:01 PM