Stop whining!

Estuve siguiendo con atención el blog de MIDEM ya que esta vez no pude ser de la partida. La industria de la música parece haber superado el shock inicial provocado por el cambio de paradigma y ahora se entrega con entusiasmo a todo tipo de experimientaciones (más allá de la cara de perplejidad de los más veteranos). En línea con este nuevo optimismo El Economist sacó un artículo el año pasado en el que revisa modelos de negocios que sí están funcionando (y algunos muy bien). Copio algunas frases sueltas pero vale la pena leerlo entero:

It is not that more people are going to concerts. Rather, they are paying more to get in.

Fans complain bitterly about the rising price of live music. Yet they keep paying for concerts. One reason is that the live-music experience has vastly improved.

However much fans pay to get into a venue (and thanks to ticket touts they often pay more than even the greediest artists charge) they tend to have cash left over. This they spend on merchandise.

The re-release of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 album “Exile on Main Street” in May was accompanied by a merchandising blitz that illustrates how far the business has evolved beyond selling black T-shirts. Bravado released more than 100 items, from baseball caps to boxes containing signed lithographs. There were not only album-cover T-shirts but also a higher-priced “as worn by” collection, featuring reproductions of clothes that members of the band happened to be wearing in the early 1970s. The huge range of items at different prices meant products found their way into budget stores like Target as well as dearer ones like Bloomingdale’s.

Scorcher, a rapper from London who recently signed his first record deal, set up a clothing label even before he made his first video. He invariably wears his own products in the music videos that he gives away on websites like YouTube. Scorcher is not so much selling music as using music to sell.

Music’s best business customer is television.

Because it derives revenues from business as well as consumers, publishing is much more stable than recording.

On television, music is either supported by advertising or bundled invisibly into the cost of pay-TV subscriptions. That model is spreading from the box to the web.

In a sense, the recorded-music market is not so much dying as greying.

The consequences can be seen in the pop charts. America’s bestselling album since 2000 is “1”, a collection of Beatles hits from the 1960s.

The ageing of the recorded-music market has been accelerated by trends in retailing. As independent record shops and specialist media stores like Zavvi (formerly Virgin) have closed, supermarkets have emerged as leading outlets for music.

The growing clout of middle-aged and old listeners extends beyond recorded music. “Many of the acts selling out stadiums are old,” says Rob Hallett, the president of international touring at AEG Live.

¡Mientras tanto, en Buenos Aires, los amigos de Bicicletas lanzan un videojuego y le marcan el camino al resto!

PD: Aprovecho el post musical para invitar a la charla que desarrollaremos sobre gestión de negocios para salas de música en vivo (¡la industria está girando al vivo y nosotros queremos acompañarlos!). Martes 22 de febrero a las 17:30hs en el CMD, en el marco del 2do Encuentro Iberoamericano de Gestión Musical (EIGM).