Wired’s Listening Post has an excellent bullet point interview with Sony BMG executive, Thomas Hesse, about the current state of the music industry and what the future holds. Surprisingly, Hesse has some genuinely insightful thoughts on the state of the industry.
Here are some highlights:
- Connected CDs are going to be a huge thing. Half of people put CDs in their computers, mostly for ripping, which is great, because they purchased the music legally. At that time, there’s a chance to connect with the user, sell more music, merchandise, etc. There are both promotional and upsell opportunities there.
- The biggest opportunity we have is to create an access model for the consumer where the consumer can consume music in a virtually limitless way by purchasing some kind of subscription or device that comes with access to the music. Those are the most exciting, and are gaining traction. Various models are being debated right now. The mobile phone will play a critical role, and the device will play critical role.
- There are so many options for consumers. We must be bold enough to throw out some of old models.
I gotta admit, the last place I expected to hear some rational, well-thought out analyses on the music industry’s current plight was from a Sony BMG executive. Mr. Hesse has managed to make me start to take the major labels seriously again. I don’t agree with everything he says in the interview, but he has enough good points that he has my respect.
Read the rest of Hesse’s interview [wired.com]
