It's Not Just The Cost Of Music Distribution That's Shrinking…

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the portable-music-studios dept

While much of the discussion on the changes facing the music and recording industry focuses on the fact that distribution costs drop ridiculously when moved online, it’s perhaps just as important to recognize that the cost of creating music is dropping as well. More and more musicians are discovering that they can produce a top quality album on a laptop. The article even quotes a well known producer who says he now does some of his best work on his laptop on airplanes. Cutting the traditional recording studio out of the process is one more reason why musicians have even less of a need to go with a traditional record label while making it easier for them to create and distribute new music. While the music industry loves to say that if things continue down the current path no new music will be created, you have to take into account the effects of cheaper music production in combination with cheaper music distribution. A recent study showed that as music production costs decrease (even as distribution costs drop towards zero), even more music is likely to be produced. The problem for the recording industry, though, is that it’s less likely to be produced through them.