Digital Revolution

Technology is influencing the way industries are structured. Stephen Covey and Peter Drucker have written about this subject. In his book 'The 8th Habit of Highly Efective People' Stephen Covey says that we are confronted with one of the greatest shifts in human history. Covey quotes Peter Drucker who said that neither technology, nor internet or e-commerce has caused the change, but rather a change in human condition. 'For the first time literally a substantial and rapidly growing number of people have choices. For the first time they have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.'

Covey then talks about four different ages in which 'change' occurs:

1. The hunter and gatherer age
2. The agricultural age
3. The industrial age
4. The information knowledge worker age

For instance, in the industrial age people build factories and learned specialization, delegation and scale ability. 'The productivity of the industrial age went up fifty times over the family farm. What did you need as a farmer to stay a player, also in the industrial age? You needed a completely new skill set and toolset. You needed a new mindset, a new way of thinking.'

I think this story is also true for the music industry these days. The information knowledge worker age is changing the way consumers are behaving. Buying music, listening to music, finding new music, and so on. The music industry must realize that people are finding new music via Peer-2-peer networks, Pandora, Last.fm, and other services. Consumers are not buying music the way they bought music ten years ago.