P: I’m joined in the studio by Peter O’Neill, who writes a popular blog about the business of making and selling music. Peter, is this the end for the music business?
Peter: No, in a word. I think we need to say that the death of the music industry has been greatly exaggerated. I think there has never been as much demand as there is now for consuming music – and people are getting music in many different ways. The challenge for the big companies in the music business is to try and understand the changes that are taking place and come up with a new business model. If they can do that, I think there are very exciting times ahead.
P: Well, I don’t want to contradict you but let’s look at some of the statistics around filesharing. An estimated 12 billion songs were swapped or illegally downloaded last year with an estimated loss of £325 million for British record companies. A European survey said 34% of 15 to 24 year olds had no idea of music as something you paid for. That to me, looks like - very bad news for the music companies.