Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Ads Could Set Digital Music Tempo
This year could be the year that the music industry finally figures out how to milk the Internet for all its potential, according to Reuters. User generated content and personal recommendations will drive growth, which could enhance revenues enough to make up for any shortfall in CD sales.Digital music sales, while slowing, continue to climb, but by embracing fans, sales could grow much faster. According to Nielsen SoundScan, sales of digital tracks were up by 67 percent, and digital album sales doubled during the first 49 weeks of 2006 over the previous year.
Copyright holders should develop mechanisms so that the individuals who care about music can serve as affiliates and promote tracks and make a few bucks in the process. Allowing people to link to music downloads on their MySpace or personal web pages and have the sales tracked so that they can earn a commission has great potential. Customers who have purchased products are the best marketers, and the music sites should develop affiliate programs so that any music enthusiast can make money.
Another possibility is using peer-to-peer networks to allow users to distribute and sell tracks themselves and automatically report the sales back to the copyright holders. The music industry may not be comfortable with the lack of control with this model, but from a user perspective it's the easiest way to buy and distribute content.
Then there's allowing users to mash-up songs into their own videos, which has proven popular on YouTube. Music publishers are already working with the video site, but the companies could promote new tracks by having contests for the best music video of newly released tracks. Music is becoming integrated like never before with popular shows such as Grey's Anatomy, and fans could go crazy with home-made videos that would create extra revenue with each stream.
Posted By Jason Dowdell at 03:39 PM
Permanent Link: Ads Could Set Digital Music Tempo
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