SpiralFrog, EMI, and downloads in your cup

This week record label EMI signed a deal with SpiralFrog to provide lyrics (ad-supported) from their artists to SpiralFrog users, and allow free access for US residents to the music available from EMI. Good news for listeners, but something I read in the article on USA Today bothered me a bit. It was the statement by Roger Faxon, EMI'ss co-chief executive, that EMI wants to "recapture consumer demand, which has been hijacked by online piracy." He apparently doesn't quite know what he's talking about. Consumer demand is all but gone not because of online piracy, but because recording companies refuse to give consumers what they want. That is what it comes down to, they are inflexible and still producing CDs when the whole consumer population is moving toward using other avenues to get their music. This is the age of convenience, as mentioned in this story, where people bought and downloaded more songs OTA than expected in the UK. UBC Media got an 83% acceptance rate among users, which surprised them, and isn't bad. Like Blockbuster, recording companies need to get with the program, or they will be wiped out in the near future. The companies with the big lead (like Apple, Napster, rhapsody, others) in the digital music arena will not stand still and wait for the others to catch up, they will (and already do) dominate the market, and will continue to do so. EMI and others need to wake up and smell the downloads.

Tags: digitalmusic, downloads, EMI, news, SpiralFrog, UK, USATODAY