Digital Music Entrepreneurs Move On?
An article on CNET yesterday highlighted a lack of support and investment for digital music start ups recently.
Music industry veteran and now venture capitalist at Venrock Associates David Pakman said “Investors lost a lot of money in this space.”
“What the music industry never encouraged or even allowed was building an ecosystem around its product,” he added.
I couldn’t agree more with Pakman. Music labels have shunned digital music services since they started cropping up over 10 years ago. Instead of embracing new technology and, as Pakman put it, “building an ecosystem”, the industry has sued the pants off every digital start up it could get its hands on.
Mike Masnick says “Given that (likelihood of getting sued or getting a deal that makes a profitable business impossible), is it any wonder that entrepreneurs are shying away from any sort of digital music startup these days, in favor of opportunities with no obsolete gatekeepers demanding huge chunks of whatever revenue they might one day make?”
Recent Comments