Yes PART of the problem however such is just the logical outcome after the noise barrier in recording was broken. (via digital technology) This breakthrough changed forever how things are done. The digital revolution shook up the industry in so many ways you could fill an entire set of encyclopedias on the subject.
It used to be to get a viable product that would compete with the pros (not performance but in the recording) a musician would have to spend tens of thousands even hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment and studio time and mastering.
The digital revolution destroyed the lock the recording industry had on the music market because they owned the gateway (studios, distribution, manufacturing of the product.) the digital revolution destroyed that gateway. Now a band can record and master and produce its own music and get it to millions of listeners via the Internet with a few thousand dollars invested in some digital recording and mastering hardware and software.
And since MORE people can afford to get in the game, more music is produced AND thusly the same amount of dollars is chasing MORE product plus the ability to digitally share music with friends ADD it all up and you get what has destroyed the monster over bloated beast we know as the recording industry.
The same is starting to happen to the TV and movie industry. You can purchase a production quality HDTV camera for 2000 bucks. Add another 500 bucks for software to edit and master another 1000 for some decent mics and other gear and you are in the movie business. All you need is some actors a script and some talent and you can have your movie online for literally 100s of millions of people to enjoy it complete with complicated special effects and digital lighting tricks via the editing software. 10 years ago that wasn't possible.
Bono wants to point a finger of blame at someone because he can't make as much money as he once did and I believe he is honestly worried that newer artists won't be able to either. File sharing is a part of the problem but its not the main cause. The real reason is that being a recording artist now is a vocation open to anyone who wants to spend a couple of grand on the gear and getting down to work. The market is diluted now and we aren't going back to Kansas Dorthy!
“ADD it all up and you get what has destroyed the monster over bloated beast we know as the recording industry.’
Sounds like a pretty cogent description of the situation. The internet is huge and amorphous as hell. What’s good about it can also be whats bad about it.
I put some stuff up a while back. There was would be no real support of it (public performance) since the singer wasn’t interested. But I put the stuff up any way just to see what happened. However so many people grabbed the songs to put up on “radio stations” (which is a thing an unknown like me WANTS) that I could never get a read on what the songs were doing. Whan the radio stations kicked in the counts stopped, yet people are STILL grabbing the stuff for their “stations” now. Oh well....
Great response...thanks!
Your analysis is quite accurate, I think.
The buggy-whip manufacturers were real people, who suffered financially due to technological change.