MORE FROM DIGITAL HOLLYWOOD

Panel Report:The Artists Strike Back – Will DRM & Anti-Piracy Initiatives Destroy Digital Music?
Ken Hertz, Senior Partner, Goldring Hertz & Lichtenstein LLP
Albhy Galuten, Vice President, Digital Media Technology Strategy, Sony Corporation of America
Dave Jaworski, CEO, Passalong Networks
Ty Roberts, founder & CTO, GraceNote
Kelli Richards, President, The All Access Group, Moderator

This panel on Digital Rights Management ably moderated by tech author/consultant Kelli Richards provided a number of view points with Sony Corp Digital VP Alabhy Galuten summing  up this panel’s  viewpoint best by saying simply , "DRM is not  the enemy".  He and others on the panel presented their various approached to monetizing music ownership and listening.  Nothing earth shattering here, but some good ideas and honest banter. I was disappointed that no one discussed the effects that too much copy protection has on the consumer.

Panel Report: Music Industry Innovates and Morphs: Radio, Blogs, P2P, Ad Revenue Concepts, Cable/TV Innovation
Marc Morgenstern, VP, General Manager of Loudeye, Digital Media Asset Protection Business
Michael Weiss, President & CEO, StreamCast Networks
David Frerichs, Vice President & U.S. General Manager, Coding Technologies
Ted Cohen, Senior Vice President, D3 – Digital Development & Distribution, EMI Recorded Music
Stephen Taylor, CTO, Mashboxx
Bill Moore, CEO, RadioTime
Rick Doherty, co-founder and Director, The Envisioneering Group, Moderator

I had high hopes for this panel. We all know that most of what drove music marketing just 5 years ago no longer works. So what is coming along to replace it? The list in the title showed promise, but as is  too often the case on music industry panels the discussion quickly deteriorated into the legality and illegality of various tech innovations.  So we all know stealing music is bad for our business and usually if not always illegal.  But here’s the secret: We can’t make it go away! Moderator Rick Doherty provided some valuable historical perspective but failed to keep the discussion on topic. A real discussion of what innovations are and aren;t working in the industry failed to happen here.

CONFERENCE SUMMARY:  A worthwhile trip.  Any time you can get the head of Morpheus and a VP of EMI in the same room without any lawyers is a good thing.  And while I wish some of the panelists could have been more informative and a bit less self-serving; isn’t this what these conventions are all about: Sell ling your product, seeing who else is selling what, and most of all trying to figure out if you’ve got a real business model or just a great idea. 

I heard lots of great ideas: Passalong (great potential for viral music marketing) Yahoo! Music Unlimited (who finally are getting music pricing right), and even Mercora (if by any chance it’s actually legal).  Let’s see how many are  still in business to attend next year’s Digital Hollywood.

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