Corey Smith and The Future of Music

I am back in Athens for what is going to be my last semester at UGA.  I’ve spent the last three weeks traveling.  I went back to New Orleans for another visit this time without habitat work, spending Christmas with my girlfriend and her family and also spent some time in Kansas with my host parents from my high school year in 1997-1998.  I had a huge agenda and an array of books that I wanted to read.  Away from my college work environment, I ended up sleeping more than usual, playing a lot of cards and talking to people.  I did read two books though.  One of which “The Future of Music” by David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard was actually mentioned by the guest speaker in our first Music Business class of this semester.  Corey Smith told us how his career started and how this book influenced his way of thinking about music.  The book suggests that music should be treated and paid for like a utility like water or electricity.  It also states that file sharing is not as bad as the record companies and their law suits make it seem.  They have just never figured out how they can turn one of the strongest music distribution systems into a money making entity and thus have lost their previous control of the market.  Though I think that a lot of the things described in the book have already happened by now (it was published in 2005) it was nevertheless an interesting read.  Reading the book you will easily understand that Corey liked the book.