Think Tank 1 – Here We Are Now, Entertain Us October 21, 2008

Let's Sell Recorded Music!

Illegally downloaded any music recently? Given that nearly two thirds of all internet traffic is made up of P2P activity these days, if you haven't, then most young people you know are. Since Napster first reared its head in the late nineties, the recorded music business has tried in vain to put the genie back in the bottle; the result some pr blunders and an estimated 20:1 illegal download rate.

For music fans it's been a golden age where hard to find and out of print releases have been readily available alongside the latest hits of the day, but with no way of monetising these streams the record labels have been forced to watch their profits dwindle while the world's been moving online.

The government has taken notice and is overseeing a three-pronged initiative aimed at educating and developing awareness, dealing with the most serious infringers and facilitating legitimate offerings.

This series will focus on that third prong: effective legitimate alternatives. Over the course of the four events we will review what people want, where technology is heading, what the most plausible new models are and how they might be licensed.

Think Tank 1 – Here We Are Now, Entertain Us Tues 21st Oct

Kicking off the series, we take a long hard look at what music consumers actually want and how this tallies with the status quo and raft of new services in various stages of development or launch. Will we see monolithic music portals dispensing entertainment with all the charm of a Wal-Mart, or will they incorporate some of the sharing and word-of-mouth qualities that the internet does so well? Will each ISP run its own service or will there be several operations each serving their own niche communities? Which models are likely to be most compelling and hence fly with music fans? And finally what of the companies who have spent several years and fortunes building up legal download services, how can they adapt to a world where music is bundled to the consumer in a feels-like-free way?

Official Website: http://www.musictank.co.uk