Chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group Admits being “Asleep at the Wheel”

Posted by Fitzy

November 16, 2007

Hey all…

I saw in TechCrunch yesterday that the Chairman and CEO of the Warner Music Group, Edgar Bronfman, admitted during a presentation that the music industry had been “asleep at the wheel”.

He told a group of mobile industry operators not to make the same mistakes as the music industry:

We used to fool ourselves…We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won.

So they were in a war with consumers over how they thought their property should be used. Can we tell that to the RIAA now so it stops suing the small fish who are merely collecting MP3s?

Will this bring about change in the music industry? Eh. Probably not. It may be “too little too late” to correct the issues. But I hope they give it a try.

Just thought this was interesting as a follow up to my DRM article earlier in the year.

–Fitz