MAKING MUSIC: Digital execs think cellphones will draw listeners into ‘immersive’ experience

HOLLYWOOD, Calif.-The music industry is redefining itself amid significant changes, particularly with regards to the record labels’ role in a world where recording artists are able to connect with fans with little technological or marketing know-how.
“The labels are clearly at an inflection point,” John Jones, senior VP of MusicNet, said at last week’s Digital Hollywood conference. “People are experiencing music more ubiquitously than ever before.”
Charlie Moore, senior VP of corporate development at Ruckus Network, said record labels have become much more open to new business models recently. Because of that, he forecasts a “flourishing life ahead for subscription services” because most billing will be done by wireless carriers in the years ahead, he added.
“If you think about the tolerance you have for your own mobile bill . you probably don’t even look at it,” he said. “I think our primary challenge is to put something better out there.”
The problem is, “we compete with free,” Moore added.
“It’s hard to get customers to pay $15 a month for something they can get for free,” said Albhy Galuten, VP of digital media technology strategy at Sony Corp. of America.
The panel’s discussion quickly grew into one of the most contentious debates of the four-day-long show-pitting incumbent record labels against emerging business models.
“The rebellion between the artist relationships with the majors is in full flux,” said Daniel Harris, chairman and CEO of Mediapass. “They’ve decreased the value proposition for the artists themselves.”
Galuten eventually stepped in to “dispel the myth of the glorious artist-centric music industry.”
Calling labels and artists “adversaries” under the traditional model, Galuten said labels’ relationship with artists are going to shift to a more collaborative effort. The artist-management relationship is traditionally much more positive, he said.
“There’s no morality associated with the business,” he said. “You can’t blame any business for making more money when they can.”
In order to bring back the love for music, artists and labels need to “resurrect the immersive experience,” Galuten added.
“The only immersive experiences that you have today are either music videos or live performances,” he said. “There’s an ability to create something beyond what you can get on a CD.”
Cellphones might be one way to get there, some panelists said.
“It’s clunky right now to get music through your cellphone,” said Jessica Steel, VP of business development at Pandora. Yet Pandora and plenty of other companies that are already in full-swing online are hoping to find similar success in mobile.
Pandora, for example, enables users to personalize multiple radio stations that only play music they like. More than 400 attributes are studied on each and every song by more than 50 musician-analysts that work on the Music Genome Project. Founded by musicians and music-lovers, Pandora lets users explore its trove of music and then drop the name of some of their favorite songs or artists to help the database scan for other analyzed music that might click with that user.