UnforgettableLemon
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
From page 235 (remember, this bit was written in 1993-1994):
Record stores could become obsolete as music is delivered over cable, telephone wires, or satellite transmission directly into consumers' homes. This raises amazing possibilities. One is that in the next century top acts such as U2 will no longer need record companies; they will be able to make their albums and sell them directly to their audience by direct transmission. Both Bellcore (the Bell Telephone research company in Livingston, New Jersey) and Philips (the company that owns Polygram, U2's label) have set up crude working prototypes of home music delivery systems by hooking up recordable CD players to fiber-optic telephone lines. Imagine a future in which U2 finishes making an album at the Factory, and then just walks over to the computer, puts it on-line, and waits for their fans to punch in credit-card numbers and download it into their homes. No record store, no record company, no one to grab that other 80 percent of the profit.
I'd have to say he was onto something.
Record stores could become obsolete as music is delivered over cable, telephone wires, or satellite transmission directly into consumers' homes. This raises amazing possibilities. One is that in the next century top acts such as U2 will no longer need record companies; they will be able to make their albums and sell them directly to their audience by direct transmission. Both Bellcore (the Bell Telephone research company in Livingston, New Jersey) and Philips (the company that owns Polygram, U2's label) have set up crude working prototypes of home music delivery systems by hooking up recordable CD players to fiber-optic telephone lines. Imagine a future in which U2 finishes making an album at the Factory, and then just walks over to the computer, puts it on-line, and waits for their fans to punch in credit-card numbers and download it into their homes. No record store, no record company, no one to grab that other 80 percent of the profit.
I'd have to say he was onto something.