When will music industry learn

MARK CUBAN, OWNER of the Dallas Mavericks, asks, "When will the music industry do it right?" When will it stop crying wolf? This is tantamount to Denis O'Brien asking, "When will O2 stop gouging customers?"

Prior to his purchase of the Mavericks, Cuban co-founded Broadcast.com, the leading provider of multimedia and streaming on the Internet, in 1995, selling it to Yahoo! in July of 1999. Before Broadcast.com, Cuban co-founded MicroSolutions, a leading National Systems Integrator, in 1983, and later sold it to CompuServe.

He writes

Comcast is making a huge bet on Subscription Video on Demand. Why would they be any less excited about Subscription Music on Demand? Universities could get a discounted version that they offer at cost. $50 bucks per head, per semester and you are a legit downloader. It’s included in your options at the beginning of the semester. Then of course the kids are going to want it when they get home.

I’m sure this is'nt a new idea. I know i'ts been talked about, because I have brought it up in meetings again and again. So the question is, why hasnt it been done? It’s so much more profitable than anything that could ever happen with per song downloads. 200mm singles sold gets you 200mm in gross revenue. One song at a time. 5mm people buying five channels at five bucks per month gets you 300mm dollars in predictable annual gross revenues.

But that’s far from what the market will be. I’m guessing, but it could easily be 40 million people averaging five dollars per month. Thats real money. In an industry that sells 800mm or so albums in a year and makes what, 1 to 3 bucks net, per CD, that’s nothing to sneeze at.

Cuban's blog posting attracted dozens of affirmations. Is anybody inside the RIAA or IRMA listening? Do they have to?

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Mark Cuban -- "When will the music industry do it right?"

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