Can Blogs Save The Music Industry?

Pity the music industry. Between 99-cent downloads, free - if not always legal -file-sharing services and MP3 blogs, and an increasingly fragmented audience, it's desperately in need of a new revenue stream.

Jon Cohen and Rob Stone, two veteran music marketers, think they've got one: advertisers that will underwrite free downloading. They've put together of network of MP3 blogs including three of their own such sites - thefader.com, thetripwire.com and 1200squad.com - and RCRD LBL, an innovative web music destination run by Peter Rojas, founder of Engadget and Gizmodo. And Cohen and Stone have already done advertising deals across this network with companies like Microsoft's Zune portable music player and Toyota's Lexus. "There are a lot of great sites that have it together from the editorial standpoint but not the marketing standpoint," says Cohen. "We figured why not pool things so we can compete in a tough market?"

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Comments

[Blurp]

Isn't that a picture of the now-closed Aron's Records in L.A?

[mrBlue1]

Since for me music is God, I hold the works of the artists through whom God speaks as sacred and have never once even considered stealing them off the internet. It is very sad to me to go out to a music store to sample cds on their systems only to find them in disrepair and the selection of available cds to choose from shrinking at every visit. With new jazz artists, this is particularly true, since I can go online and find scads of new stuff, but I can't find the same at Borders after sipping a chai latte. I know I can order stuff online, but I miss the ritual of shopping for that perfect new discovery and the ride home listening to it.

[southafrica4obama]

I guess we now need college graduates in the music industry who can revive it. No more albums (CDs). Put one song on the market and sell it.

[InofTouch]

I have seen the future and it is Time-Life Presents

[southafrica4obama]

For hip hop: better go back to the beats of 1990-2001. Other genres, keep it to the 80's. New music SUCKS, especially southern beats and lyrics. Nothing. Nonsense. Just one song out of 18 on an album is a hit. I play old school.

[missviv]

I'm a fan of the hip hop of the late 80s, anything after '98 has just been terrible. Once mainstream hip hop resigned itself to being a vehicle for a Hype Williams video, the genre died because it took down with it anything that had subsistence.

And don't forget all the brilliant rock, jazz, soul, funk, etc of pre 80s. David Axelrod? The Beatles? P-Funk? The Doors?

[solidsonic02]

The 80's for rock/blues/soul/funk? How about the 70's and 60's. Best popular musical era ever. But yes, hip hop 1990-2001.

The only thing that came from the 80's was the insurgence of Metal and synth-pop (which blows). Rock and roll suffered terribly in that decade.

Although there are still high-quality artists today, they're just fewer and further between than we'd like.

This is a cool idea, though. I'll gladly let the ad execs fund my listening experience, just as long as I can get what I want.

[TheRebel82]

You know what can save the music industry? GOOD MUSIC!

It's a joke nowadays. You have all these talentless morons making CD's.

[monty]

I guess all those high-school and college students that the RIAA sued resulting in the loss of their education money didn't make a difference after all.

[Bobleblah1]

Good comments all around so far.
The money grubbers and advertisers will never get it.
The lesson to be learned is that they are not supposed to get it, because if they did they wouldn't be in the position they are in right now. The record business from an album standpoint was never fair to the artist and wont ever be as long as there is a corporate structure behind it.
KRS1 actually told us at a show to "Steal my album, cause I aint making no money on it either"

Its poetic justice in a way. If the artist cant make money of their own music, why should someone else?
Touring bands can and do still earn money from their music, but make no mistake, there are still many other smart ways for artist to sell their music. My advice to anyone in the know.

DO NOT DISCUSS THEM ON HUFFINGTONPOST!

Your idea will be stolen and used in ways that do not benefit artists.

[dac253]

I may be the last CD buyer in the world, but MP3's stink. 128kbps? pfft!
I need at least 1411kbps or else my dog will bite me.

[dac253]

Oops, I forgot to address the article,...

No. Blogs cannot save the music industry.

Nothing can save the music industry. People will always be able to steal these MP3s. The answer is for bands to hit the road and sell concert tickets. If they're good bands and they rock the house, they'll make a good living.
If they're music is all overdubbed and "airbrushed" they'll have to find another job because no one is going to show up to see Ashley Simpson lip sync.

The sharing of MP3s is unavoidable, so why not use it for the marketing value? Why does Ashley Simpson need to be called a singer? The free-market is rewarding working bands and punishing the parasites.

[Sumocat]

I don't see a major difference between your idea of giving away MP3s and their idea of giving away MP3s. Their plan is to sell ad space to cover the cost of giving away MP3s. Your plan is to give away MP3s to promote the bands. Why can't these ideas co-exist? Wouldn't elevating file-sharing to public and legal status increase distribution, thereby enhancing their marketing value?

[Tom95134]

Yup, the reversal has happened. It use to be that you had to go on the road to sell your records (you remember 45s, right?). Now you should be giving away mp3s of your music to insure that you get packed venues at your concerts. Unfortunately, the music business is still living in the 1950s and tied to the approach of making money on CDs.