CC Mixter has changed hands and is now in private ownership. It’s a supercool development that reflects AIUI a profound vision of the future of record companies and recording artists:
Social sites generating music are the next generation of both bands and labels.
Have a local gathering of members making live music? It’s the same as the band doing a live show. Have more than one of these? The band is on tour. Etc. From this vantage point, 8Bit Peoples is both a label and a band, for example.
(Note that this is my own observation and not based on inside information!)
CC is transferring day-to-day ops and expenses of ccM to ArtisTech Media (ATM) but the site isn’t changing and ATM is not allowed to ‘make money’ directly from or on the site.
ATM is, in fact, a collective seeking commercial fame and fortune hoping that by paying for the operating costs of ccM, it will inspire many of it’s members to use the ATM platform for the commercial functions.
The idea that “ATM is not allowed to ‘make money’ directly from or on the site.” just seems like an unnecessary roadblock, though it’s probably good for ATM to have such a strong emphasis on mission.
I know what you’re saying.
I suppose there’s a harsh, cannibalistic calculus you could do that says you could lose 30% (? maybe 50%, maybe 10%) of your core constituency, you could attract a whole different musical beast and change the entire tenure of ccM but the futuristic potential for changing the larger game is worth it.
What ATM is going to try to do is (perhaps) a compromised version where you have a distinction between the community site and the business site where success is measured using different metrics.