These two panels made it clear that nearly everyone in the music business recognizes that the complexities of getting legal access to music was harming the business as a whole. But it was also obvious that there are people in the business that hope the licensing can change without any impact on their corner of the industry, and that everyone involved is still looking to get their cut from any new technology that comes along. The sort of pessimism this engenders was probably best voiced by DiMA’s Jon Potter. “The fact that the law is driving the business is a problem,” he said. “The fact that we’re sitting here saying the same things year after year is a problem.”
The fact that people are sitting there year after year without coming up with solutions is a problem that will solve itself.
It may even *have* to solve itself. Each faction has enough legal ammunition to fight the other factions to a standstill for its share of the pie, but lacks the whozamawhatsit to make the pie big enough to keep them all alive on their shares. As the pie shrinks some pieces become too small to sustain their owners, so that some factions will drop off and the overall equation will change. For example, physical retailers don’t have the influence anymore to make life hard on their digital competitors, and that’s allowing digital vendors to get better deals.
(Links via @MixMatchMusic).