2009 and 2019 years when it all change?

Yes, 2009 was really a change year. The depression was an all-time low. A new company opened its doors called Spotify. Still many organizations were laying off people. In some cases good layoffs. Many useless people got fired and old people quit. We streamlined the industry and created new ways.

I feel the same way now. I was sending out a mail to industry people around a request working with an artist. I haven't done that in a while (usually I do it in personal ways) so I went through the list to look at the names. The list was over 1500 people. Mainly, people, I have met during the last five years. 

I was looking through the list to take off people I know not any longer worked on their position or even in The music industry. In there I took off a hundred. Then I went through all people if the actually could offer anything that was a benefit for this case. in practical they could get something done that I can't do. Here 95% of the Swedish industry was taken off. The few left, I sent a personal mail. 

Then I took off old people that really have no updates on what is going on.

After all takeoffs, I was down to 600 out of 1500. After send out I got also many automatic replies telling me that people had left their chairs or left the industry.

Then I got some answers from people that really didn't know what was going on. Things like we can put in them into sync for both master and publishing. Or old dudes that thought that just because they worked on a major we should just go for it.

Down and all it was just 350 in that address book that was interesting and updated enough to be for any use. And that was the same in 2009. It's so written on the wall that a new change has begun. Maybe even bigger than 2009.

Lika a good friend use to say "many are called, few selected“.

What is 2019 gonna hold!

I have been reading many blogs from the music industry and what they think will dominate the industry next year. And there are many good suggestions. Like the positions of Chinese streaming services going forward ( of course, streaming is just about numbers so more people you have more you get) as well as India, and Brazil. Markets that might take over the playlists.

One person in a very high up company said we will see the start of the downfall of playlists. They are to scattered and people don't want to have a playlist where 95% of the content is unknown to them. This will form more lists that are mainstream.

Spotify survival against Youtube music and Apple is also interesting since the market right now says that the Apple streams are more likely to be real than the other two competitors.

AI is coming stronger. It's not a dream its reality. Still, will it find new good artist for me as a listener? No, it will just sort in my own private library.

A lot of blockchains is still there but it seems like there is to many of them right now.

And then they also namedropped several new companies in the music sector.

But what have it all in common? Nothing of this is really caring about the artists. These companies are mainly building stuff for a vast majority to use. Fine with that but it won't help an artist career? You don't win a formula one race by giving the driver a bunch of nuts and bolts and vague dream of putting the car together.

And this is what I see. Right now we are just building tools for the industry. Sure I will use these tools, but the manual for these tools are hidden in algorithms that no one can see.

The ones that build companies that take artist careers forward and not build on mass systems (yes no one is breaking through Spotify, Reverbnation, Bandcamp etc) and can master these systems and get a top ride in several of them at the same time. Now we are talking. That is what is going on.

And it's actually starting to be that way. There is a whole new world and system ongoing, but far away from the eyes of the stock market and the tech guys. In the end, music is about feelings and that is mainly handled down between people, not computers. I think we will start to see these networks rise during 2019.

I got the same feeling in 2009 when Spotify came around. it was liberty to get rid of old grumpy men. Today Spotify is that old grumpy man. same with the people that made that liberation. Time to change team again.

This is why old men die!

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