Today’s the last tenet in the series, and next week I’ll wrap up with some conclusions before getting back to regular programming in the new year. Last on the list is the importance of getting artists onside. Many bands bitch like crazy about their label, and actively recommend that people pirate their content – it’s a strange situation and one that’s unique to the music industry. How do you get them onside? Click over the jump for my recommendations.

1. Music must be sharable – word of mouth is more important than ever
2. Revenue must come from multiple sources – if one bit of the industry becomes obsolete, it shouldn’t sink the whole ship
3. New technologies are to be welcomed and understood, not feared and litigated against
4. A&R can be crowdsourced, but remember the long tail
5. “Added value” is key – give people a reason not to pirate things
6. Your artists are your most important spokespeople

Although piracy is undeniably bad for the music industry, there are plenty of ways around it. The sue-em-all solution hasn’t worked, so what else can record companies do to slow the problem down? In this instalment, I’ll share some of my ideas on how the industry can be creative in tackling the pirates. Hint: It’s all about carrots.

1. Music must be sharable – word of mouth is more important than ever
2. Revenue must come from multiple sources – if one bit of the industry becomes obsolete, it shouldn’t sink the whole ship
3. New technologies are to be welcomed and understood, not feared and litigated against
4. A&R can be crowdsourced, but remember the long tail
5. “Added value” is key – give people a reason not to pirate things
6. Your artists are your most important spokespeople

There’s nothing worse than someone who’s constantly using buzzwords, but I’ve used one or two today to discuss what I think needs to happen to A&R. Crowdsourcing. Don’t worry – I’m not going all Web 2.0 on you – but “the crowd” is far better at finding new bands than any A&R man. Find my thoughts over the jump, and an index of the past weeks below.

1. Music must be sharable – word of mouth is more important than ever
2. Revenue must come from multiple sources – if one bit of the industry becomes obsolete, it shouldn’t sink the whole ship
3. New technologies are to be welcomed and understood, not feared and litigated against
4. A&R can be crowdsourced, but remember the long tail
5. “Added value” is key – give people a reason not to pirate things – carrots, not sticks
6. Your artists are your most important spokespeople

Last week, I discussed the first of my six things that I consider to be crucial to a successful music company in the digital age – being able to freely share music, and passion for music between people without let or hindrance, as my passport would say. This week, we’re down to more business-focused principles:

1. Music must be sharable – word of mouth is more important than ever
2. Revenue must come from multiple sources – if one bit of the industry becomes obsolete, it shouldn’t sink the whole ship
3. New technologies are to be welcomed and understood, not feared and litigated against
4. A&R can be crowdsourced, but remember the long tail
5. “Added value” is key – give people a reason not to pirate things – carrots, not sticks
6. Your artists are your most important spokespeople

Click over the jump for my thoughts on the second one, and stay tuned over the next few weeks for the finishing chapters.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a roundtable event in conjunction with Intel (and their Intel Studio initiative) that discussed a very grand subject – the future of music. It’s a big subject, and one that, for some reason, everyone’s got an opinion on in the technology world. In conjunction between that event and thoughts I’ve been having for a long time on how music will change in the future, here’s six tenets that I think will permeate the next wave of music creation and discovery:

1. 1)Music must be sharable – word of mouth is more important than ever
2. 2)Revenue must come from multiple sources – if one bit of the industry becomes obsolete, it shouldn’t sink the whole ship
3. 3)New technologies are to be welcomed and understood, not feared and litigated against
4. 4)A&R can be crowdsourced, but remember the long tail
5. 5)”Added value” is key – give people a reason not to pirate things – carrots, not sticks
6. 6)Your artists are your most important spokespeople

I’ll go into detail about each one over the next six weeks – but today, I’m going to discuss the first in the list – how essential it is to be able to easily share music. Click over the jump for my thoughts.