The Economist Is The Latest To Recognize The Music Industry Is Thriving

We've been making this point for years now, but as more and more evidence comes from the recording industry itself, it's nice to see mainstream publications like The Economist finally willing to admit that the music industry is actually thriving, contrary to the stories you keep hearing in the press. It covers many of the same data points and stories we've seen before, but highlights a few others -- including a rapper who set up a clothing line before he even made his first video, but is making more money selling clothes (which he wears in his videos) than selling music. As the article says: "Scorcher is not so much selling music as using music to sell. 'If you buy into me musically, you will also buy into the clothing and the lifestyle.'"

The other thing that the article highlights is the absolutely thriving B2B side of music, where companies will sponsor musical acts, either for tours or other efforts. The companies get their brands associated with cool acts, while the artists get a nice chunk of cash. This is an area of the business that keeps on growing.

Unfortunately, despite all this evidence of a very strong music business, the article does revert to an odd interpretation later, complaining that the market is "greying," because only old people buy music any more. But, they point this out after they spend many paragraphs showing all of the other business models that artists can embrace to make money -- so I'm not sure why it matters that only older people now buy music any more. Selling music isn't the music business model any more, and it's time for everyone to recognize that.

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Source: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101012/02300211380/the-economist-is-the-latest-to-recognize-the-music-industry-is-thriving.shtml

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