The Internet is going to bring a flat playing field to music. The difference between a major and an independent label will begin not to matter anymore. The smallest independent label could have just as wide a distribution – even wider internationally – as the largest major.
Predictor: Lord, Rob
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for The New York Times, Neil Strauss covers the future of recorded music, quoting Rob Lord of the Internet Underground Music Archive. Strauss writes: ”The Internet evey has an advantage over record labels: it can provide international distribution, sending music by an unsigned, unknown band anywhere from Juneau, Alaska, to Amman, Jordan. ‘The Internet is going to bring a flat playing field to music,’ said Rob Lord, who helps run the Internet Underground Music Archive, a service that makes songs by little-known bands available on line free of charge. ‘The difference between a major and an independent label will begin not to matter anymore. The smallest independent label could have just as wide a distribution – even wider internationally – as the largest major.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Music
Name of publication: New York Times
Title, headline, chapter name: Records of the Future: At Your Fingertips
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=026ec071862bc0c693159432b586268b&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVtb-lSlAl&_md5=372dda92b5d07a2763adb86480c1cd9f
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garrison, Betty