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Yesterday I was asked by the Globe and Mail to provide commentary on the pros/cons of licensing deals. Though the headline spun the story as being about the pitfalls of licensing, really my comments were more about the positive benefits innovative licensing deals can yield.
The commentary was in response to a story from the Globe's Report on Business section about Open Road Recordings. Open Road is proving that there's good news coming from the grassroots of the Canadian music industry; it is planning to release 9 records this year instead of its usual 3. That success is attributable mainly to a licensing deal it signed to market Taylor Swift's albums north of the border.
Such a blockbuster breakthrough is great, but not something that everyone in the music industry can count on. So my commentary raised the prospects of other ways to make the most of licensing opportunities. That includes capitalizing on the untapped revenue streams that could come from legal p2p file sharing, and doing deals with anyone from mobile app providers to social networking sites. In general, I said, "Industry players need to worry less about seizing control and more about connecting with customers."
The legal framework for all this already exists -- there's no need to whine about inadequate copyright laws and keep waiting for legal reforms -- businesses could be doing more of these deals today. New strategies can use existing tools, as I've recently written about.
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