READY OR NOT!

by Dwight L. Quinn
Face it, a big change have come to the record business and there is no turning back. Digital downloads are here to stay and so be it. For the record labels this means a big dip in revenues and of course,a new way of distributing their music. The compact disc allowed the labels to make more money and gave them a lot of marketing funds to do the job of getting the buzz out. Something the Digital format won't do in it's early stages, especially for the smaller label guy. The number of downloads that it takes to earn $7.00 is about 12.86 and/or 13 downloads. So if you have a Sales Budget of 65,000 units and/or $ 455,000.00 a year, you would to have a download of 1.9 million to make that same budget in the digital arena today,this by far is a big change. Does this mean, the compact disc is gone for good, absolutely not, it just means that the cd is going to be another side of the revenue stream such as the vinyl,videos,cassette tapes, a small but not totally a depleted product,etc. From 1990 to 2011, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew from 12.4 million to over 6 billion, penetrating about 87% of the global population and reaching the bottom of the economic pyramid. In economics, the bottom of the pyramid is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group. In global terms, this is the 4 billion people who live on less than US$2.50 per day.[1] The phrase “bottom of the pyramid” is used in particular by people developing new models of doing business that deliberately target that demographic, often using new technology. This field is also often referred to as the "Base of the Pyramid" or just the "BoP". Well this sector will be able to download music right from their mobile units. And never before has we ever been able to know who exactly is our End Users,until now.    We even know now, with a shadow of a doubt,what song is selling an album. But like with any progress, there are going to be casualties.And in this case,business models that are finding it hard to adapt to this new way users are getting their music and the niche music companies that have non-working artists. So, does a artists still needs a record label? My answer has always been this,does a sports professional need a coach? You can only be a master of one thing,and after almost 42 years I think that I'm still learning,something new, I'm more comfortable today of the music business than at anytime ever,I can see a bright light at the end of the tunnel. We know to increase sales there have to be an increase in productivity. There are more useful tools out here today to increase that productivity and viability. Artists are able to work more today and build fans faster and bigger today and that's the,"Key"to large Sales numbers. People buy things that they know, and if they like it, they become loyal to that thing.The more an Artist work,the more known they become and if the people like them,then they(the people) become loyal fans of the Artists ,then the Artist grows. It's clear to me is that the only thing that significantly changed in the music business is, how people get their music today. But the mechanics that makes it all happens, have not changed and that is, the Entertainment side,the Show business side,the show must go on side,the come on out and take another bow side. And this is what the whole thing  is all about. READY OR NOT!