There’s arguments for and against labels: In one sense, they bleed an artist dry retaining most of the money for themselves. In another, they nurture and develop the artists to turn them into money making machines of which both benefit.

In terms of music, I’ve often thought that direct-to-fan needs to tip the mainstream before it can ever represent sustainability to that creative sector. Services like Bandcamp are providing these platforms, but they lack visibility – how does one band sell more than the other?

Social obviously plays it’s part, yet the serendipity offered by either a traditional record store (or well organised P2P directory) can limit the listener’s engagement. Perhaps there’s a role for SEO with this? Or search optimisation for Soundcloud/Bandcamp/Youtube/et al? Only time will tell.

But where the music, movie, and touring industries need to adapt further is in the ways they reach fans. People actually want to pay for stuff, as long as it’s of good value and easy to reach. If it’s more difficult that downloading illegally, they’ll just do that. Spotify and Netflix are trying to provide these platforms, but they’re ultimate problem is with content, and that responsibility lies with the content holders. If they are willing to price their content in real world terms, then maybe, they will reach people paying for legal subscription services.

Either way, it’s an interesting time, and they have to convince the general populus that piracy is ACTUALLY WRONG. There lies the challenge.