Music Industry vs Technology : can both sides win?

OK, Let's get 2 things straight.

1. Technology isn't going away anytime soon.
2. Music isn't going away anytime soon.

Any solution must embrace both sides of the equation.

As an artist, the moment you play a song in front of someone, you run the risk that they have recorded it on a mobile phone or other device, and then have started sharing it. The more times you play that song, the more chance you have that someone will release it onto the net.

The question here is, is this beneficial to the artist? On one side of the coin, the increase in exposure via the internet is extremely valuable in marketing dollars, 100K views on youtube can be worth thousands of dollars in real world advertising dollars.

But on the flip side, has the artist lost money by allowing people to experience their music without payout for it? Unfortunately, this is not a question the artist can ask anymore, as technology guarantees this will happen.

To stay sane, and survive through these changes in the industry, the artist must accept that technology will cause people to not pay for the experience of their music, so they must gain benefits other ways, by utilising that advertising exposure to either : play bigger and more frequent gigs, or produce and sell merchandise using that exposure.. or both.

It is unfortunate that this goes against the cliche music motivations of just wanting to play and express. It means the artists have to become part of the 'business', or at the very least change the way that they usually progress through the industry in the past.

Technology on the other hand, there is not a question if it is winning from this. So much money is now being passed through sites like iTunes, rather than through a record companies hands. The percentage of online sales will only increase over time as more devices like the iPod continue to go down in price.

I personally am a huge fan of live music, and technology. If the increase in online exposure means more advertising push to get bigger live shows and more gigs (where the artist can really make their living) then I am all for it!