Jazz Odyssey

Good article in today’s New York Times that is an interesting read for those in the music business. The crux of the biscuit:

For five decades or so, the television industry’s main mission has been to come up with hit programs, get them on screens, and hope people will stop and watch. Now, that is just the starting point.

As an era of ordering TV shows at the push of a button gets underway, new challenges are clouding the landscape in the year ahead: What business models are going to work and who is going to get paid what?

Sounds familiar, eh? It gets even more familiar as the article continues:

But the road to video convergence is crowded with convoluted business relationships and potential conflicts. Behind the press releases, a major power struggle is unfolding among a wide group of stakeholders – from studios to satellite operators to manufacturers of consumer products – as new ventures are being devised for the digital age.

“We’ve taken a couple of steps forward, but there really isn’t a clear business model yet,” said David Zaslav, the president of NBC Universal Cable.

Let’s see if the cable and television industry work fast and smart enough to avoid the pitfalls that the music industry couldn’t. Read on…