Readers Respond: Should the Music Industry Still Sell Recorded Music?

If you follow music industry news, changes are that you've heard the argument that "music is free". That is to say RECORDED music is free - file sharing has made selling music all but impossible, so labels and musicians should focus on other revenue streams, like playing live and selling merch. But is it really true? Share your thoughts about whether recorded music still has a tangible value and whether anyone should even trying to be selling it.

Should The Music Industry Sell Music?

Music should be sold for as long as there is a market and demand for it. New technology and illegal download have made it very difficult for musicians. But new technology also offers new opportunities for musicians. I think that these opportunities can only be exploited by those who are able to find new ways of working with the media, market, promoters, and indeed new technologies. Mosicians must also play and produce music for love (the money will follow).

—Guest Bunton-Cole

Music at what price?

It's kind of like the "chicken or the egg" quandary. Do we tour to sell music? Or do we sell music to do tours? An album is like a picture of your favorite actor: You can download it from the web, but it's not worth as much in any respect, as one that you got at a concert. Even signed! I think free music has it's place, but those who value the artist and / or the music will want something more tangible than a shared file. Don't believe me? Look up the price on the Beautiful Day album called "It's a Beautiful Day."

—davidwaynelive.com

Bettizouri

The idea of all the recorded music to be free sounds like communism. We are all equal but some are more equal, especially the ones who take other peoples work for free. Who came up with this idea?

—Guest David Zuric

What kind of free?

In many ways, music has always been free. Consider that even on the cusp of the file-sharing era, you didn't pay to listen to the radio. There's always a place for free music and the industry is just starting to see how it can work within the new technology framework. However, file-sharers are simply creating unfair competition in the sense of providing stuff they didn't pay to produce at worse-than-dumping prices. If we, as listeners, want the quantity and quality of recorded music to be maintained, we have to ensure that making recordings makes economic sense to artists and labels alike. This isn't to say we won't get some free recordings, some of the time - we just can't expect all recorded music to be free, all of the time.

—Guest Krzysztof Wiszniewski