Innovation: I Thought This Would Be My Last Post at Fast Company

Free ain't a way to do anything but go broke. And look like sold out punk to your people. (Is this more hip-hop or more pro? Can I say sold out punk?) The music industry is collapsing. Movies and TV are close behind--as their distribution goes digital, the studio fare gets more boring, and the price of entry gets lower. The answer--higher prices. There's no reason why the Wu Tang's first album is priced the same as some X-Clan cut out. And you don't need a degree in economics to know that if pants were only $14.99, we'd all be wearing Wranglers. Welcome to the Wrangler-i-fication of hip-hop, rock, and punk. The only way out is to raise prices--and let artists connect with demographics other than 18-34. It's simple business. Premium mass culture. www.whiteg.com

"The answer -- higher prices." I think you're missing the point of what the folks I discuss are doing. The music industry is broken and these people are experimenting. Having a specific example of somebody who has been making it in the music game by raising prices would probably help your argument quite a bit.

The music industry has fixed prices--so there are no examples. (Duh.) I know it's broken and I'm telling you--and them--what must happen for it to be fixed. As an example, I submit every other industry on the planet: jeans, water, oil, cars, ball bearings, grass seed, pornography, windows, sunscreen--whatever. The profits are upmarket. Sustainability relies upon profits and differentiation--which relies upon floating prices. The entire history of the 20th century proves this. Socialism--fixed prices--failure. Capitalism--floating prices--success. Culture is the last area we allow true fixed prices. And it's the last place the majority of consumers are dissatisfied. The whole world is moving premium, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that an industry with fixed price points that is failing MUST raise it's prices or go out of business. I suppose it could improve quality, but the liklihood of it being able to do that without raising prices is next to zilch. Both artists and the labels already pander--why?--because they must sell an inordinant quantity of any given song to stay afloat. Very simply, the audience has severely fragmented and fixed prices allow no way for the producers to reach those audiences profitably. "These people" can experiment all they want--and the quicker the better I say. Our culture has been held hostage by childish drek for way too long. With fixed prices--essentially the equivalent of everything being done at a fast food level--no sophisticated (or even adult) segments can be reached, let alone properly served. That's why most adults give up on culture. I understand that you can't envision what this might look like, but I can promise you I didn't miss the point. I've been studying this exact phenomenon for years. The reason the industry has gotten to this point is its refusal to look at pricing. As movies, TV and other mediums move to digital distribution and the remaining scant barriers to self-broadcasting are removed, they'll face the same dilemma. Eventually we'll have books, movies, DVDs, songs and TV shows at all kinds of price points. It's not my opinion, just math. I suppose we could have a state sponsored culture--similar to classical music--with wealthy patrons footing the bill and holding fundraisers. But who's going to go to a fundraiser for a rapper's gold chains? Or a punkers extra tattoos? Or a rockers coke allowance? Not I. What you probably do realize is that the quality will have to get better. Right now our best culture is against--why?--because it very astutely sees that artistic values are at war with commercial values. Properly valuing artistic content will remove this barrier/crutch and let both artists and suits get on with it. Oh--and by the way--I've already written the first example of this premium mass culture. A book called The Love Artist that sells for $120. I'm working on the album.