a nice commentary that hit my soft spot …

Think back to the heyday of Napster, when a befuddled music industry was confronted for the first time with massive file sharing. It was a crisis. Since then, the tech market has responded with all sorts of innovations: Selling songs online, subscriptions, packaging music with video, and limiting file sharing through software. Compared to those early days, content companies have lots of ways to make money in the era of broadband–even though file sharing persists. [...].

My question, as the Supreme Court debates Grokster, is this: Is the music industry fighting to survive, or simply to return to the days of easy money?

Fact is, both extremes are unlikely. No matter what happens with Grokster, the traditional music industry will keep on swinging. But the days of easy money are long gone.

Quelle …

well, I do think that the music industry will persist (and it should so rightly), as long as it leverages its strengths and consequently develops innovative business models based thereon … the key question remains how to develop and implement innovative business models …

Update zu MGM vs. Grokster …

a ruling isn’t expected until July, so don’t hold your breath. No matter what the outcome though, one thing is for certain – the high court’s decision will directly affect how people use entertainment and share information for years to come. [...] it is entirely possible that the entertainment companies will end up making more money than ever before (just like what happened with the VCR…)

read more @ Wired

mehr zu den Hintergründen und der Diskussion in Verbindung zu Innovationen bspw. bei Telepolis.

Hier auch diese Feststellung:

Nicht zu vergessen bleibt jedenfalls, dass die Unterhaltungsindustrie letztlich immer die “Piraterie” über- und kommerzielle Nutzungsmöglichkeiten neuer Techniken unterschätzte.

… man darf gespannt sein wie das Urteil ausgeht, hoffen wir auf die Einsicht in den Betamax-Präzedenzfall – oder?
morgen früh ist es jedenfalls soweit … zu den Hintergründen und zur Bedeutung für Innovation, innovative Technologien und Geschäftsmodelle ein weiterer kleiner Artikel, diesmal von BusinessWeek, nicht viel neues, aber die Kommentatorin Lorraine Woellert trifft im letzten Absatz den Nagel dennoch auf den Kopf …

Ever since the invention of the player piano, the reigning entertainment titans of the day have fought new technologies, most recently taking up arms against VCRs, CDs, and MP3 players. Each time, they eventually came to recognize the value of these innovations, for themselves and for their customers. P2P — and whatever as-yet-unimagined technologies might follow — will be no different.

read more @ BusinessWeek …