CD'S GOING GOING GONE

Here is an article that just gives yet another wake up call for th music industry


WASHINGTON – At a House Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday on “The Future of Audio,” Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Chairman and CEO Cary Sherman will tell lawmakers how the music industry has “transformed how it does business,” touting the fact that digital formats now account for more than half of industry revenues and pointing to an array of licensed formats and services for fans.

At the hearing, before the House Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, Sherman will testify (testimony here) that “CDs are no longer the primary format for the music business or the primary way the industry generates revenues. Digital is not just our future, it is our present. In 2004, the first year we had any meaningful digital revenues, the industry earned a grand total of $190 million from digital services. Last year, we hit nearly $3.5 billion. Quite a change.”

Sherman will tick off a litany of different models licensed by major music companies:

•    You want DRM-free downloads? We’ve got that: iTunes, AmazonMP3, eMusic, 7digital. 
•    You want to pay a modest monthly fee for all the music you can ever listen to – on your computer or smart phone? We’ve got that: Rhapsody, Spotify, MOG, Rdio, Music Unlimited, rara.com, Zune Music Pass. 
•    You want free, ad-supported video and audio streaming? We’ve got that: Spotify, YouTube, Vevo, Myspace Music, AOLMusic.
•    You want music bundled with your mobile phone? We’ve got that: Muve Music, Metro PCS/Rhapsody 
•    You want to store all your music in the cloud, so you can access it from wherever you might be? We’ve got that: iTunes Match, and more deals in the works. 
•    You want specialized digital radio services that offer you the niche kind of music you like to hear? We’ve got that: Pandora, SiriusXM, Last.fm, Yahoo!Music, AOLMusic, and over750 more such services. 
•    You want online simulcasts of AM/FM radio stations? That is available too: iHeartRadio, WJLK-FM 994.3 (The Point), KPWR-FM (Power 106), WXLC-FM (102.3 XLC), and over 750 more online radio stations fully licensed through our sister organization SoundExchange.

Sherman will testify that the agreement announced last month with the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and the Digital Media Association (DiMA), setting mechanical royalty rates and standards on a slate of new cutting-edge music business models, was a signal of a new focus of the industry and organization: