Music Like Water

Eduardo Casado
Professor Lisenbee
Enc 1102
29 November 2011
Music Like Water
In the previous assignment I explored the actual situation of the entertainment industry with a special attention to the music business. I discovered how piracy and the spread of the internet and sharing software have had a profound effect in the demise of what was one of the most prolific careers in theentertainment business. I also exposed the intrinsic relationship between artist and consumers, and how barriers have been broken in order to advocate a more direct method of delivering music to the end consumer at the expenses of the former primary actors in the exchange. Furthermore, I pointed out how piracy little by little had taken business to a collapse of catastrophic effect to the industry.
As theprimary research has shown, it is taking more than 10 years for the entertainment industry to circumvent and adapt to the ever-changing demographics and technology in order to subsist. But while researching I stumbled upon a theory that is very much of my liking and after reading about it I think is the most sensible solution to this problematic; “music like water” holds in principle thatentertainment (music) should be like an utility included in your utilities bill and the revenue gathered from it should create enough profit to withstand piracy and illegal downloading. Hence, it would give a much needed impulse to the remaining professionals or future career seekers in the business. Also, it would promote the building of an infrastructure that would open new jobs and frontiers to bothmusicians and businessmen, without annihilating the social bond that ties the artist and consumers closely.
On the one hand, David Kusec and Gerd Leonhard are the most prominent pioneers of this proposal; they hold that “The industry ought to establish a “music utility” approach to the distribution and marketing of interactive digital music, modeled after the water, gas and electricity utilitysystems. It should be done voluntarily to work best for all parties, or it may eventually be legislated through a compulsory license provision, consumers would pay a flat music licensing fee of $3 to $5 a month as part of a subscription to an Internet service provider, cellular network, digital cable service wireless carrier or other digital network provider. This fee would let people download andlisten to as much music as they care to, from a vast library of files available across the networks.”(Forbes.com)
Considering the amount media prosumers (proactive consumers), and the amount of people already subscribed to any of the above mentioned services is estimated that it would give a much needed impulse from the economic standpoint to the industry. Only in the US, there are around 200 millionpeople connected to some form of network, and by taking into account the above mentioned rate at which the service would be offered; it would result in a potential annual revenue stream between 7 billion $’s and 12 billion $’s. In contrast, according to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) by 2001, the yearly sales of recordings was 6.3 billion $’s. By comparing these two sets ofdata we could infer that the revenue created by the “music like water” method would ultimately lead to the substantial growth and stabilization of a decaying industry. Furthermore, it would create new jobs, support the economic system, and promote investment in new talent that would enrich our culture, popular or not so, that in consequence will help the talent, musicians, and professionals in thebusiness.
On the other hand, there are many detractors to this method. One of the arguments held by people who oppose music-like-water is that it would serve as a means to collect marketing information for the purpose of being targeted by the already overwhelming amount of promotions and spam material that clogs the internet and e-mail inboxes. Some extremist of this argument also hold that it...