The Music Industry in 2006 - Case Study Example

What the music industry needed to do was to look for ways to monetize the mass market for the music, especially the younger generation that tended to think that music should be free. One of the issues that were present in the music industry in 2006 was the fact that there was no concerted effort to deal with the issues. Instead of the major players coming together to develop a solution, they were busy fighting each other. In cases where the players attempted to come together, this was only done in the form of mergers and this did not help in solving the problems.

The biggest weakness that the music industry had in 2006, and still remains a problem, was the inability for the industry to realize that internet technology was to stay and that it would shift the way things were done in this industry forever. Instead of adopting the new ways, the players in the industry were too busy trying to fight off the use of technology. This did not work very well for the industry. Wells and Raabe (1) indicate that the industry lacked foresight in this area and therefore faced difficulty in making the new technology (internet) an opportunity instead of a threat.

Ironically, the very source of weaknesses was also the very source of advantage. The same internet technology that was threatening to decline CD sales was the same technology that was increasing digital sales (Wells and Raabe 6). The internet provided the music industry with a new way to deliver music to consumers. The internet could be used in so many ways, including promoting the sale of single songs instead of depending on selling whole albums like it was done in the traditional CD sales. The use of the internet would also minimize cost by cutting so many costs such as the cost of producing CDs and DVDs.

It also eliminated that need for third-party sellers, meaning that the users could get the music at a cheaper price.