Group items tagged

I. Introduction  A great rock show can change the world, some claim, but can concerts save the popular music business? Since squeezing revenue out of exploiting copyrights in recorded music has become increasingly difficult, many contend that live performance will become the focal point of the music business. The common claim is that the concert business will support not only itself, but also finance the production of studio recordings. This article considers the viability of business models based on linking freely available recordings to other revenue-producing activities, particularly live performance.As it becomes ever more difficult to persuade people to pay for recorded music, some suggest that live performance is the last economic redoubt for musicians - the only unique, excludable, non-duplicable product left in the music business. David Bowie summed up the argument nicely in a New York Times interview several years ago: "I'm fully confident that copyright ... will no longer exist in 10 years, and authorship and intellectual property is in for such a bashing. Music ... is going to become like running water or electricity... . Take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left." 1