Scot Key
IS Project #1
Proposal Letter
Topic: The Future of the Music Business
Dear Advisor:
As a musician and lover of music I fear for the future. Specifically, I'm wondering how anyone will be able to make a living creating music in today's "music industry". I also wonder how advances in technology are not only changing the economics but the music itself. I know that record sales are down and have been for years. I also know that fewer and fewer artists are being kept by record labels, and that single artists like Coldplay are the only reason many record labels are in business.
At the same time, some musicians are taking advantage of the new technology/economic system and creating wonderful music in the "ITunes Age". I want to investigate if these people are making enough money to foster a survivable "industry", and the controversies involved with selling music via non-traditional means (i.e., not via CDs).
Is online music a perpetual economic trap that will lead to the death of music as we have professionally known it, or is it simply forcing changes in the music business that will allow some new players to succeed, while old-fashioned people and ideas fail?
Fundamentally, the question I want to answer is this: Will music be better or worse off from the death of the pre-Internet music industry?
I hope you approve this topic and look forward to discussing my proposal with you.
Sincerely,
Scot Key