The Future of Profitability

In this day and age there are many emerging threats to the contemporary structure of profitability within the music production industry. Most of these threats exist in the form of pirated music, and free file sharing. Historically record labels had made the majority of their profits from record sales. Currently record sales are dropping due to consumer's desire for individual tracks, instead of the more drawn out collection found on albums. In reaction to this trend, some upstart companies have capitalized upon selling individual tracks; meeting the unique demands. Companies such as Apple and upstarts like Beatport recognized the imminent shift in consumer demand. It can be seen that the switch was heralded, and continues to be witnessed, through advancements in communications technology.

The important element of this new conceptualization for music production is, that a change was necessary. Instead of focusing on the technology of holding information; as has been prominent in the vinyl records, the cassette tape and the CD-ROM, companies are now concentrating on the security and licencing involved with directly sharing content. It is my opinion that further advancements in both communications technology, as well as the capabilities of computerized mass data storage, will continue to usher in hurtles for the production industry to address. It is open to discussion: which technologies will expand, and the significance of those developments.