Recap of a panel discussion at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Tex.
Free Music? Only With a Fight – New York Times
Ted Mico, the head of digital strategy at Interscope/Geffen/A&M records, declared, “I need more marketing and promotion on the Internet like I need a root canal without anesthetic.”He was responding to his fellow panelist, Peter Rojas, the founder of a new music blog, RCRD LBL (pronounced record label.) Mr. Rojas is one of many advocates of the idea that music shouldn’t really be “sold,” but rather used to promote other things, like advertised goods, with a portion of revenue going to artists.
On RCRD LBL, artists offer their music free, without restrictive digital rights management software. In return, the artists get a portion of the site’s ad revenue. Such blogs, he said, are “a huge force in music right now and in some ways more important than the labels because that is where bands are being broken.”
Mr. Mico disagreed. “Different people want different forms of access,” he allowed, but giving away music on blogs isn’t the answer.
Filed under: music distribution
