The new book “Rockonomics” describes the changes in the music world, its production, distribution, etc. Author is Alan B. Krueger, he was an economics professor at Princeton. He impressively describes the music business of today, and he has an international perspective. The author often looks to China, Asia in general, and also to Europe. All new developments are covered – from streaming to the development of ticket prices at concerts (including the “black market”). Nothing about frequencies on 325 pages, but about the importance of concerts and live events for musicians today.
The book shows how important live events are for artists and the industry today. We can highly recommend the book for reading. Unfortunately, there is no translation into French, German, Italian, Polish or Spanish yet. But we do know a translation into Dutch!
Here are a few extracts:
page 18:
“Recorded music has become cheap to replicate and distribute, and it is difficult to police unauthorized reproductions. This has cut into the royalties of the most successful performers and caused them to raise their prices for the live performances.”
page 19:
“Rockstar and economic pioneer David Bowie foresaw this development years ago when he said, ‘Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. … You’d better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left.'”
page 128:
„’There’s not much in entertainment that provides an experience like live music’, says Q Prime’s Cliff Burnstein. Jeannie Wilkson, the former head of research for Live Nation, said that fans attend live performances ‘to lose themselves in the artist’s music and performance, ant to connect with other fans in this experience. For many, it would be likened to a euphoric, religious experience.'” […] As recorded music is becoming more widely available than water, people are flocking to concerts and music festivals in record numbers. In a typical week, about three million people attend a live show in North America.
page 240:
“In China, as in the United States, musicians earn most of their income from performing live shows. Live events account for more than 60 percent of music spending in China, a higher share than in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Australia.”
Unfortunately, Alan B. Krueger died in March 2019.
By Jochen Zenthöfer, January 2020
Alan B. Krueger: “Rockonomics – A backstage tour of what the music industry can teach us about economics and life”, New York 2019, 18 US-Dollar.
