Nanomarkets are the future of music

Entrepreneur.com sees the forest for the trees: "What Lies Beneath"

You can crow all you want about the power of the major labels and current distribution system. You can make a pretty solid claim that CDs will be with us, powerfully, for at least five more years.

But if you're banking on mega-hits--hit albums that serve the mass market--to salve your shareholders, you're probably going to fail.

Mass customization is the future, and technology is the reason. Sure, there is a market for the masses, but it's dwindling on every single front. The opportunities of the future in the music business are in exploiting niches, the nanomarkets described in this article.

The DIY spirit lives on, empowered by cheaper technology and an ability to develop reliable fanbases that has not previously been present. There's probably not critical mass yet, but music listening culture has changed enough in the past five years to see that the next generation of teenagers will only respond to a customized offering. We don't need to hash over the obvious opportunities for brand and band building that the Internet affords, both in and because of the World Wide Web. We need to continually focus on the bigger picture, the picture that says a few dozen bands that shift 25,000 units can be an attainable, desirable, profitable model. Let the grandslams (4x platinum) come as they may; loading the bases should be the goal.