This is the second part of a discussion about big corporations and how they missed the change inside the music industry. Part 1 can be found here.  Free Music – How Big Corporations Failed to Get It (Part 1)

Here are three other reasons:

* The ‘moneymakers’ were still selling – Many people don’t know this fact, but labels make the big money on only a handful of artists. Some artists make money, but when you consider the costs of recording, touring, distribution, and marketing, it takes a huge fan following to really hit the jackpot. And, because of this, the big money is made from only a few acts.

When the web came along, the big artists weren’t immediately affected because they had existing marketing and distribution channels in place. Since the artists who were cash cows weren’t seeing any revenue changes, the web was easy to dismiss. (In fact, it was some of the big artists who spearheaded the attack against music sharing.)

* The ‘non-moneymakers’ weren’t gaining any new revenue – This is a similar view as above, just superimposed over the smaller acts.  The other remaining artists weren’t seeing any additional revenue from the web, so it was difficult to give any credence to the free model.

I can guarantee you that if an A&R guy or marketing exec walked into a meeting and proclaimed his artist had seen a 1000% increase in revenue, the entire organization would have started learning HTML.

* View that sharing music was being a pirate rather than being a supporter – All artists should be paid. However, when you are just starting out, it’s very difficult to build a fan base. The web allowed many people to share music in an easy, convenient, and fast way. With a push of a button you could create an entirely new network of fans just by sharing your music. That type of reach is unprecedented.

Unfortunately, the sharing was viewed as a violation of copyright, which sent the lawyers and lobbyists into a frenzy. Since the web was seen as a violation, no one stopped to consider how to take advantage of the new medium.

It’s easy to look back over the past few years and point out these mis-steps. I know from experience that it is very hard to change the opinions of a large organization. Sometimes it’s downright debilitating. When you put yourself in the shoes of a corporate exec, sometimes you need to give them a bit of a break on not seeing things sooner.

On the positive side, there are great strides being made by large corporations as well as start-ups that are using the web brilliantly. In my opinion, it’s a great time to be a musician. You now have more potential at your fingerpoints than at any other time in history. My advice is to use as many of them as you can and make it big.