The New Power Players : Show Me The Money

With representatives from 7 Digital, We7, Getty Images and Ministry of Sound, this panel aimed to demystify the revenue streams behind the music industry's new power players. Ted Cohen from TAG Strategic looked after proceedings, which viewed a trend-shift from the a-la-carte industry to a service economy. 7 Digital's Ben Drury accepted that while no one single model would work for everyone, there is definitely a shift from consumer demands from wanting to own music to just wanting to stream.
But the purchase model still holds ground, as Ben admitted that the major labels pushed them towards their recent deal with Spotify which provides one-click purchase integration. Whether this simply was an extension of their current affiliate deal, or an expression of a lack of confidence on the part of the majors in Spotify's business model, is yet to be made clear. Drury also confirmed that the firm's Indie Store offering for DIY artists has 60,000 musicians and bands signed up to it. Getty's Vince Bannon also noted that the band Metric, have made $300K since Christmas through their own DIY activities.
Ministry of Sound's Rudy Tambala piped up halfway though this panel, comparing the line-up for the first panel to a "bunch of old blokes, sitting out on the porch, spitting tobacco.", which might have been a bit unfair - they weren't that old.
Ted Cohen gave a response to BPI's Geoff Taylor's recent comments about Napster in a column written for the BBC. When Cohen worked with Napster he no desire to make a deal with the recorded music business, they just wanted to build a base, get the law changed. In the light of today's news about the sale of The Pirate Bay, we could see history repeating itself.