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Warner Music Boss: We Were Wrong

Someone in the music industry finally seeing the error of their ways? A blue moon rose over Macau Wednesday when Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Music Group Edgar Bronfman admitted on stage that the music industry had been asleep at the wheel.

Bronfman told the audience at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress that mobile operators should not make the same mistakes that the music industry has:

We used to fool ourselves…We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won.

The remarkable thing about Bronfman’s admission is that the music industry considered what they were doing, in trying to limit consumer choice, to be a war. It’s a frank and honest admission that’s a positive for the music industry in moving forward from the sins of the past, however one mans words alone do not herald a sea change in an entire industry. Having said that though it’s still nice to see at least someone has woken up to the realities of today’s marketplace.

(via MacUser)

"How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won."

With the internet and other ways to advertise and buy products, any product or service provider, who goes to war with consumers and tries to deny them what they want, will be ripped to shred by competition.

I'm still amazed at how many retailers, both independent and chain owned, refuse to carry what customers want/need and try to push their inventory instead. Inventory that was purchased without much nor any input from the consumers.

This is why elite liberals and botique liberal shop owners hate capitalism and the internet. They can no longer do business their way and not provide what the consumers want at a good price.

By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won. The remarkable thing about Bronfman’s admission is that the music industry considered what they were doing, in trying to limit consumer choice, to be a war.

The media-at-war meme just popped up on AJR.

The staffers know what's going on. They know what's lost, whether it's subject beats that are abandoned, cities and towns and neighborhoods that are ignored or enterprise pieces and investigative reports that never surface because there isn't enough reporting firepower to make them happen.
And don't think the readers don't know when they're getting a product that's thinner both in terms of newshole and heft. All the spin in the world can't hide that.
The "do more with less" silliness is bad enough when it comes from other industries. But it's particularly appalling when it comes from people who are in the truth-telling business.

Coral Ridge Ministries, proclaiming truths that transform the world.