Op-Ed : Free Music | Features | Pitchfork
▻http://pitchfork.com/features/oped/9178-free-music
As others have commented— most recently Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich— these new models are adept at wringing profits from existing music catalogs, but they don’t do much, if anything, for the financing of new recordings. And it doesn’t take an MBA to see how that doesn’t bode well for the future of the industry. But it must be said: Major labels don’t exactly have a great track record for planning ahead. (Is it something about the personalities drawn to work in our moment-to-moment world of music? If you get a thrill from Jonathan Richman’s “one-two-three-four-five-six!” are you more likely to be someone who saves carefully for retirement, or someone who hopes they die before they get old?)