Published Feb 11, 2007
Mark Cuban thinks that the music labels should get together and start a company to stand against Apple’s iTunes and Microsoft. I agree that the music labels, and, for good measure, the movie and tv studios need to get out from under the thumb of the tech industry, which so far has controlled the next-generation distribution channels. But for the music industry to start its own company is risky and expensive. Instead, the music industry needs to leverage this country’s great capital markets and reservoir of mobile knowledge workers to get someone else to do the hard work for them. That is, they need to outsource their risk, and they - and the movie industry - can do this without losing their returns.