catalog is key, if I need to join 5 services to get everything I want, obviously Kazaa, and all the other napsterettes become more appealing. and personally, I don't give a rat's rear end about what's popular at any one time, but the labels are convinced that is where the value is. I like to be able to choose from 20's to 50's to 00's and everything in between.
the real fortune is probably in the old catalog stuff, if they did it correctly. Every 40+ person has thousands of songs they would like to be able to dial up, and most can afford the fee. The industry is usually too busy mis-categorizing these people to see the value. The industry only wants the next Britney Spears, not the next Doors, Yardbirds, Cream, Beatles, Stones, etc. They want what they manufacture to be popular, not what the music public discovers.
Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.
- Arthur Schopenhauer
