Fox
Business Channel Interview, Jan 2008:
Music Business Singing A New Tune"
Interviewer: Jim, bottom line is,
for the moment, it’s a lot easier to make money selling a CD than
selling a download, isn’t it?
Jim: Definitely…
Doc McGhee: (interrupts him) It
definitely was… (and gives his 5c)
Jim: (looks on, amused)
Interviewer: Jim! I wanna go to Jim
McMorman [sic!], the point is that the profit margin from the CD that’s
so much bigger, you get so much more per CD than per download, so how
do you make money with that profit margin so much lower?
Jim: That’s
the million dollar question, that’s what everybody is trying to figure
out. I mean, the one good thing that I see, or… one of the many good
things that I see, which is kind of cool for me as an artist and
somebody who plays for other artists is… it feels like this is forcing
record companies and everyone who works in the music business to
be creative again. We’ve kinda been trudging along doing the same
policies for years and years and years and now it’s forcing the heads
of labels, forcing music managers and artists to start thinking again,
thinking, “What can we do that’s different?” So… But nobody knows the
answer, that’s why the music industry is in the state that it’s
in.
Interviewer: Jim McMorman,
[sic!] the bottom line, the harsh bottom line reality is: the cash is
still not flowing out of these new internet solutions.
Jim: Weeeeell, that….
Doc McGhee: (at the same time) The business
model is a bit…
Interviewer: Hold on! Go ahead Jim.
Jim (laughs) : Hey Doc! What are you
doing over there? Doc and I go a way back, just so you know!
What
I was gonna say, you know, that’s why the record companies are
now looking into touring and merchandising other avenues where
musicians have always made money; where the record company never used
had a piece of that; they are all now starting to get these 360 deals,
where everyone… they are including everything, you know… It’s a
problem…. It’s a big problem how people are gonna make money from the
actual sale of music. Cuz there are so many kids today that don’t even
know… that never even bought any music!
Doc McGhee: … Under the 360 deals, they work
for a big person, that wants to cash in for 300 million dollars, but
when you’re talking about bands out there that are working, like
everyone else – it doesn’t work for them.
Jim: (rolls his eyes)
Interviewer: So, Jim it sounds like
we have no magic bullet yet Jim.
Jim: Oh. I… By no means am I
suggesting that that’s what works. I am saying that’s what a lot of
these labels, I think, would like to do, because that’s just one
way that they are trying to figure out how they can get the peace of
everything… Look. People are still going out to concerts, people are
still buying merch. What people aren’t buying are CD’s. So, it
only makes sense for them to try to get in on things
that are actually making revenue now! So…
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