Warner Music Group Does A 360

We hope all of you had a wonderful holiday celebrating our wonderful nation’s independence.  Being the music geeks that they are, their holiday was spent thinking about the music industry, and it’s several changes it’s undergone, while they were unable to travel because of work.  This work focused weekend was partially inspired by after we were passed a thought provoking article by MICHAEL FITZGERALD and Fast Company.com entitled “How Warner Music and Its Musicians Are Combating Declining Album Sales.”   The article gives music biz heads like the Clizbe’s an intimate look into the thought process of Atlantic Records COO Julie Greenwald, and  her boss Lyor Cohen,  North American Chairman and CEO of Atlantic’s parent company Warner Music Group, as they discuss the declining economic status of the industry, and how they’ve begun to turn things around in the digital age, to actually turn what is claimed to be, a 60% digital music profit.      In the article both Greenwald and Cohen sing the praises of evolving the industry to happily standardize the implementation of 360 style record deals, that actively morphs the label’s role to handle three hundred and sixty degrees of an artist’s including career including marketing, concerts, and merchandizing.  It is particularly fascinating because of the precedence Atlantic’s success will set for this changing industry.  While some art lovers may oldschool business model managers maybe against this method, claiming that they would be talking money out of the pockets of artist, remember the the industry isn’t making much to begin with, and if they can make some changes to generate a little bit of revenue, and healthily funded competition, it should turn out to aid to the growth of quality music.  Check out the article here and see what you think.