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Why Digital Music Has (Sort Of) Failed

  • Reuters, Wednesday, January 26, 2011 2:20 PM
Forrester Research analyst Mark Mulligan is (sort of) sticking by his contention -- recently published in The New York Times -- that digital music has failed. "The problem with a quote like that of course is that it can mean many things to many people without further context," Mulligan writes in paidContent. What Mulligan really means is that "Digital music is at an impasse," and it has so far failed to reach three key objectives, including offsetting the impact of declining CD sales; generating a format replacement cycle and; competing effectively with piracy.

"The simple fact is that current music products do not meet consumer demand and the divergence between emerging consumer behavior and legitimate music products is widening at an alarming rate." As such, Mulligan is calling for the music industry to co-develop and adopt an entirely new wave of music products "that embrace access and experience, instead of trying to replicate analogue-era distribution business models in a digital context." Good luck with that.

Read the whole story at Reuters »

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