BGroobs sez, "At SXSW, David Byrne gave a presentation in which he details his predictions for the future of the music industry: digital downloads will be the norm, and labels will either be reduced to marketing firms or will focus only on megastars. Oh, and the article drops this little nugget: '[Bryne] said he buys most of his music online via eMusic, or obtains it illegally, due to the file constraints on files sold on iTunes.'"
Byrne is incredibly smart about this stuff — and he's also the most talented versatile artist of his generation. About tho-thirds of my favorite music was written, performed or published by him.
While conceding the marketing costs in the digital era won't be cheap, Byrne noted that sites like YouTube offer more possibilities to artists than MTV. He called up a YouTube video of a man standing in a cavern. "Nobody is telling you have to make a million dollar video," Byrne said. "You can make it like this guy — stand in a dangerous place and everyone will watch."
But first, he said, labels will have to remove their digital rights management (DRM) copyright-control technology. He said he buys most of his music online via eMusic, or obtains it illegally, due to the file constraints on files sold on iTunes. Byrne predicated that once DRM is removed, iTunes will no longer "have a monopoly," and labels will be better prepared to deal with Web sales.
(Thanks, BGroobs!)
