The Digital Music Economy Is Messing Up More Than Just Musicians. Others Are Being Hit, Too. (But It’s Not All Bad News)

Think musicians are the only ones suffering the transitions inherent in the new digital music economy.  Here’s an excerpt from an academic journal called The Conversation.

Think of the music industry. Online stores have resulted in the loss of many jobs as a result of physical record stores closing down. However, our changing habits have not cut out the middle-man. We buy most of our music from intermediaries like Apple. Even record labels, seemingly superfluous to the online music industry, continue to flourish.

In other words, while the poorer middle-men – record store assistants, or taxi drivers – have been ruthlessly squeezed, wealthier intermediaries continue to prosper. Even the supposedly lower barriers to entry in these industries have not prevented monopolies emerging in online markets in a way that is not as prominent in markets offline.

Read the whole article here.

Although unfortunate, these changes always come with progress, both good and bad. The official blog of MIDEM, the big European music and media conference, notes that we’re in a era of unbelievable innovation in music.