Students Alex Foing and Megan Himel from the global entertainment and music business master’s program reflect upon the fourth of the Music Business Seminars, where they had the chance to listen to Don Gorder discuss the changes in the US music industry.
Since the dawn of time, the relationship between art and commerce has often seen troubled waters. We have gone through format changes, evolving paradigms, local to global, bottom to top, and from analog to digital. But in our era of digital consumption, there will always be two prevailing mechanisms that help steer the industry’s course: Legislation (the ability to protect and exploit ownership) and Technology (the vehicle used for distributing, sharing and monitoring). As long as the economics of art force it to be monetized, these two guardians will hold the power to bring about the industry’s flourishing or demise.
