Music Business and Trend Mongering

The NYT had a great article this AM about Microsoft’s offer to purchase Yahoo. What I found interesting is the commentary on the reason why Silicon Valley is lukewarm on the idea: they prefer innovation from forward-thinking smaller companies rather than acquisitions by major companies trying to play catch up.

Here’s a link to the piece:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/technology/03valley.html?hp

I think some parallels could be made to the music industry – the folks that I think will make it are innovators, developing and refining the way we listen to, distribute, and buy music; they are doing something that’s different. I think it’s important to recognize the fact that the music industry is not immune to the same basic economics and trends that affect the technology sector. Building a creative business from the bottom up that fills a defined niche seems to me to be a much more sound approach than creating a business that relies on the traditional industry gatekeepers, particularly given the current state of the music business.