March 27, 2009

Tough Times....


Is the music industry in serious decline or is it booming? Well... both.

‘Economy’, ‘Credit Crunch’, ‘Recession’. All very real to some people, but at the same time as the job cuts, the music industry is reaching more people who are consuming more music and more artists are making a living from it (some are even selling downloads and merchandise by the truckload). So what IS going on?

Forward thinking music 2.0 businesses that should be expanding are being forced to cut back. Sirius XM laid off 50 staff including some disc jockeys, Pandora had to cut their team from 140 to 120.

These businesses are thriving in one sense, with more members, fans and subscribers every day - Pandora also stated that their listenership is ‘growing rapidly’ - and yet they are still struggling to fund their staffing costs. I think that this is because their ideas and business models are sound, but the market and industry as a whole is just not ready for them. Not just yet. The ones that aren’t adapting are looking even gloomier; Time Warner is expecting to cut 1,250 jobs across the media and entertainment sectors following it’s recently reported fourth quarter loss.....

Read the full article over at the UK Music Jobs Blog.


Lee Jarvis.

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