Some days, it seems like the record industry is all over but the complaining. CNET reports that yesterday music executives assembled in New York for Digital Music Forum East, starting “with an all-around bashing of Apple CEO Steve Jobs” and moving on to how the industry might survive at a time when “CD sales fell 23 percent worldwide between 2000 and 2006.” Former EMI digital top dog and current head of TAG Strategic, Ted Cohen, has the money quote: “We’re running out of time. We need to get money flowing from consumers and get them used to paying for music again.”
As is usually the case, the forward-looking action is happening with the independents, not the majors. While EMI gets cold feet about selling music online without DRM, Indie Wind-Up has signed a small deal with YouTube that give the indie rev share for advertising on pages where its music is used. The label also will let users include pre-cleared tracks in their own videos. Sure, it’s no Viacom deal, but it does hint at how such a megadeal could be structured. Release. (via WSJ)
Back at the majors, some executives are jumping from one leaky ship to another. The New York Times reports that Martin Bandier, the chairman and co-CEO of EMI publishing unit, will take charge at Sony’s publishing arm on April 1. The Times states, “As part of the arrangement, which was announced yesterday, Mr. Bandier is making an unspecified investment in the Sony unit.” So now we know what it takes to get a job in the record industry nowadays: you have to pay to play.