ABSTRACT
Niels Bohr, the famous Danish physicist who is often attributed with the foundational contributions to developing quantum mechanics, is also credited with saying that “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” In the past seven years that I have been dedicated to this topic no quote seems more appropriate. Music services, models, and technologies have come and gone with a pace and promises unfulfilled. Indeed, researching this book has been something of a Heraclitian dream, where a subject examined not only changes the day after one sees it, but sometimes as one is studying it. In some corners it might be fashionable to say that this constant change will remain and that there may never be another period of relative stability. The problem with this is that it somehow ignores the fact that people and societies demand relative stability, even if that means understanding that a period of constant change would be a kind of stability. In this world musicians and investors alike could embrace an ecosystem of “perpetual beta” and adaptation. This world of technological updates and new formats may, on the face of it, feel difficult. However, musicians and investors have long existed in a world where technologies change and formats quickly come of age. What has changed is that these new formats and technologies, while essential, have offered no clear path to profits for those invested in music production.
