A few days holiday last month allowed me to catch up with some reading I’d put aside for later. One such blog post concerns the future of the recording industry in the face of technological change.

It is written by Stephen J. Dubner - co-author (along with Steven J Levitt*) of the book Freakonomics - and its off-shoot blog. Dubner sought the opinion of five people with a wealth of experience in the business and pretty much leaves the article to them:

• Koleman Strumpf - professor of business economics at the University of Kansas Business School whose papers include The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales
• Fredric Danned - author of Hit Men: Powerbrokers & Fast Money Inside The Music Business
• George Drakoulias - producer & repertoire executive American Recordings veteran of Def Jam Recordings
• Peter Rojas - founder of Engadget - co-founder of RCRD LBL
• Steve Gottlieb president of TVT Records

It”s quite a lengthy read but very interesting. One thing which emerges is that audiophiles, being a minority, have little say in how things proceed - convenience seems to be the driving force for most consumers. Another, which made me smile, is that many enthusiasts of the 78 didn’t rate the newfangled LP format. Yet another is the that the link to digital downloading and reduced sales is not as straighforward as it might seem.

Meanwhile, at the Scottish Learning Festival it became apparent how important comments are to pupils on their blogs. Nevertheless, most people decline to comment for a variety of reasons and it can be safely assumed that the number of comments posted bears little relation to the number of readers.

Dubner’s post carries 97 comments. Definitely not as straightforward as it seems…

* You can see Steven D. Levitt give a talk at TED entitled Why Do Crack Dealers Still Live With Their Moms - a look at the surprising economic similarities and differences between gang membership and corporate life in America.

Categories: Assessment, Behind-the-scenes, Digital Literacy, Enterprise, Music, ScotLearnFest07, Technology