Die kurze Geschichte der (Major-)Labels als Cash Cows

Bobby Owsinski fasst auf Forbes anlässlich des Börsengangs von SFX Entertainment die kurze Zeitspanne zusammen, in der die Majorlabels dank des Medienwechsels zur CD zu Cash Cows wurden und so auf einmal auch Wall Street Interesse an der Musikbranche zeigte:

We’ve seen this scenario played out before in the entertainment business, most notably during a period that I call Music 1.5, or the era just before the introduction of online music. As I outlined in my book Music 3.0: A Survival Guide To Making Music In The Internet Age, it was during this period that the CD was introduced and record labels became cash cows when consumers rushed out to replace their personal libraries with the new and more expensive digital version of the music they already owned. This meant that CDs were flying off the shelves with minimal production or marketing expenses, so the profit margin was unusually wide. Then the labels got a totally unexpected gift of a new marketing avenue when MTV launched, and sales soared to greater heights than ever before.

During this period from 1982 to around 1990, so much cash flowed into the record label coffers that suddenly both Wall Street and Madison Avenue wanted a piece (they took almost zero interest in the industry previously). Before you knew it, relatively tiny Warner Bros was purchased by corporate heavyweight Time Inc, Universal by Matsushita (then later by Vivendi ), EMI by Thorn Industries, and Columbia by Sony (the other two major labels at the time were Polygram, which was already owned by the Dutch electronics company Philips, and BMG, which was owned by the German giant Bertelsmann AG).

Das mittlerweile altbekannte Drama ist natürlich, dass direkt auf diesen Geldregen der harte Fall dank Internet und veränderter Mediennutzung (Aufstieg der Gamesbranche) kam.

Owsinski über SFX:

Just a refresher on SFX – it’s the brainchild of chief executive and chairman Robert Sillerman, who saw how EDM was becoming the next big trend in music and wanted to cash in on its popularity. The initially company went on a buying spree, rolling up several event producers as well as online music store Beatport, and was planning on using the IPO money for additional acquisitions of other major EDM events.

 Bei billboard gibt es eine Übersicht zum Börsengang von SFX mit Zitaten von SFX-CEO Robert Sillerman.