An interesting proposition here, by Edward James Bass on thenextweb.com that tech companies might buy up bits of the music biz or even set up as labels themselves.
In a way, it’s already happening, but without the investment in artists. Perhaps they’re waiting for a successful model to appear which can then be sucked into their amoeba structure, (XL beware!) or perhaps the grand and evil plan is that, eventually, when all the artists have given up trying to make money from their recordings they will be able treat music in the same way they treat funny baby videos… a bit like they’re doing right now.
Of course, the music won’t stop. There will be a million copycat hobbyists for them to choose from (some of them adding music to the meals they prepare in the kitchens of their restaurants, along with pepper and cumen), plus a few thousand doomed and starving True Artists, still trying to push the boundaries in between searching the gutters for a crust.
Perhaps, if they are as wise as they seem to be, the tech companies might find a way to invest in the artists who provide the soundtracks to a billion web visits. Could they fund academies? Trust funds that provide bursaries (you need two references from a cool teacher)? Buy up Mean Fiddler? Or just become Apple Records - ‘bringing together the artists of today with the methods and media of tomorrow…’