It is no secret that the music industry is no longer a record business. Nor is it very profitable for the same people anymore. Simon Cowell and the owners of Live Nation may be rubbing their hands together, but long-time execs are wondering how to keep themselves afloat.
Rick Dobbis was anything but idealistic in the face of these global changes. Currently Chairman of R-DOG LLC, a multi-dimensional entertainment company that serves clients such as the Rolling Stones and Yanni, Dobbis challenged to students to wonder what the industry would be like in five years.
Will ring-tones be a profitable business?
Probably not, he argued.
"Why would you purchase ringtones when you could acquire software that would allow you to download it yourself? Or create ringtones yourself from music you owned?" he asked.
The room was silent besides the hum of Macbooks.
Indeed, technology seems to outpacing us.
As former President of Sony Music International, he watched the company pour money into Sony Playstation 2 and 3, only to be eclipsed by the introduction of the Wii. "And who knows what will be next," he said.
Record sales decreased 18% worldwide between 2006 and 2008, with numbers plunging more in the States than in continents such as Europe and Asia. Illegal downloading, on the other hand, is on the rise. Dobbis reminded us that China is the biggest country in the world. And the most populous. In addition, it has a piracy rate of 100%. Unfortunately for Dobbis, he set up a CD-manufacturing plant there before these statistics emerged. He couldn't have known that it would fall flat on its face.
But Dobbis didn't seem phased. He jokingly offered future SU grads a spacious facility in China to launch a new business, reminding us that Macao [8] is the new Vegas.
We watched footage of a documentary series in the making about country singers (yes, country listening has gone up in recent years), which Dobbis hopes to market to the U.K., Germany, Sweden, and Norway as well as domestically, since these countries have an audience for this genre.
Who would've thought.
It is not a desperate situation, he said, but students will be entering an industry that is transformed. Although we can be sure that it will change again in five years, there is only so much we can predict.
What do we know?
China, Russia, Brazil, and India are the world's fastest-growing markets. Interest in big American pop-stars has been decreasingly steadily while these countries' own domestic stars are on the rise.
Social networking is at the hub of the future's successful business models.
Dobbis believes live music will continue to be profitable worldwide, but he emphasized repeatedly that we must be aware of the changes underway.
Time to start learning Hindhu, I guess.
