What does it matter if making a living as a musician through record sales is a historical anomaly? And can you really call it an anomaly if previous generations didn't have the option of selling records as the technology didn't exist? That's like saying "cars are a historically anomalous mode of transport". Great. So?
And by the way, in the early 20th century Broadway made a lot of money from sheet music. A product.
It's like the government tearing out everybody's plumbing in order that the outhouse builders can still make a living.
>And by the way, in the early 20th century Broadway made a lot of money from sheet music.
By harassing and imprisoning people who would play music without buying it first; a vile little historical chapter.
False dichotomy much?
on the cars -- horses were bought and sold. trains. boats. you name it. buying a product that is transformed by technology is not the same as trying to take a service and transform it into a product through technology. you can augment the service (large margins) or automate the service (thin margins), but you can't turn it into a product.
on the sheet music -- precisely! that's the exact analogy. note the incredible consumer demand for sheet music today! it's not exactly a booming market outside of the niche training/instruction arena.
edit: btw, that last bit about the incredible demand today for sheet music was sarcasm. just in case it didn't come across....
Why not?
so, like the whole ideas and sharing flames analogy.
now, note, this does not pertain to products that perform services. that's a whole 'nuther ball of wax. but, in our example, that'd be like cloning the musician rather than the music.
This is exactly what a recording does, though -- it automates a performance.
the music recording is the manifestation of the performance/service. so, not viable as a product.
cd players perform the service of playing the music. (aka automates the performance) totally viable as a product.
think of it like a many-to-one relationship. the "one" is what can be productized. the "many" cannot. scarcity is key for what can be economically considered product-viable.