Well Janis, Here's Your Proof

I've always respected Janis Ian for her talent, brains and her family devotion, long before she took the music industry on with her article called "THE INTERNET DEBACLE - AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW," which she wrote of the niche trade Performing Songwriter Magazine, in May 2002.

The article proved to the rest of the world, Janis Ian is an intellegent voice for the independent music industry as well as the older or seasoned talent who rarely gets airplay. She isn't the only professional musician and songwriter I know whom I have personally heard this from before. Janis' articles and the way she has conducted herself in this debate has also proved to me that Janis, like a number of seasoned music business folks, has more than her share of common sense.  That makes you a jewel in this world Janis!

Yesterday Dave mentioned in Scripting News: The "SJ Merc interviews Janis Ian. "She credits Napster and its progeny with sparking renewed interest in her music, at a time when she can't be heard on contemporary-hit-obsessed radio stations. And she says her decision to offer free music downloads had done the opposite of what the industry predicts it would do: It caused a 300 percent spike in merchandise sales."

Well I'm not surprised. However it was difficult to prove. Or the recording industry called it a freak accident. Well is appears it isn't.

Today I hand you the proof Janis is right-- Bill Rose and the crew over at Arbitron and the Edison Media Research group has released the news that they have just completed a study which shows as broadband connections grow, the number of people who listen to Internet Radio is increasing. Those listeners are buying more CD's per year-- nearly double.

I don't know about you, but this type of proof makes the recording industry look more and more customer unfriendly.

More on this later. 

2:22:21 PM