6 March 2008
Recent actions suggest that there may be a change for some companies in the music industry to help pull them out of the downward spiral the music industry appears to have slipped into.
The recent introduction of full tracks to music community last.fm, following deals with all of the major music companies, suggests that the recording industry may finally be coming to grips with how to make the most of digital.
It has been suggested that the record companies either use SEO to try and beat sites like last.fm, and the thousands of lyrics sites that make up results pages for many music related searches, or they do a deal with them. However just as parts of some industries looks like it may be getting to grips with the digital age, other sectors are clearly still unable to grasp the opportunities that the web offers.
For example, the football industry. A recent non-profit making blog site about Newcastle United was ordered to remove its Premier league fixture list for the club, or pay for the right to display it.
Begrudgingly the site did so, but at the same time a blog was posted explaining why it had been removed. This post actually caused a diversion in traffic, possibly because it currently ranks at the top of page two for the phrase “Newcastle United fixture list”.
This means that many more people will have read about how the Premier League sees no value in allowing fans to act as free marketing channels for their leagues and clubs. The Premier League believes that many fans won't actually ever see the official fixtures list.
Whilst it is argued that the issues of copyright and intellectual property are incredibly complex, it seems as nothing more than an own goal to punish fans who are quite willing to give up their time to promote their clubs, thereby enriching the league and online industry.
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