HipHopMusiq.com

There’s a war going on outside for the soul of the music industry. Itunes is the number one seller of music right now and the record industry is trying to counter act that. This week they hooked up a deal with myspace to give some of their music away for free and to make their money on advertising, merchandising, and other related venues. They also have to watch their flank because company, Live Nation is coming from the left to try to drink their milkshake. They are banking on the work the industry has done in making big name artist and signing them to huge deals to get a piece of their hustle. Who’s going to win this war, no one knows. but it should be an interesting fight.

Following in the footsteps of Madonna and U2 major superstar Jay Z signs music promoter Live Nation for 150 million dollars. The deal has an array of stipulations to it that pretty much play out to Live Nation backing a ton of Jay Z’s business ventures, as well as getting a percentage of touring and merchandise revenue.

There has been speculation wether this was a good deal or not for Live Nation as well as Jay Z’s part. We would have to conclude that not only was it a good deal but it’s the smartest deal out right now. This is where more music deals are going eventually end up because the old model is hanging on by life support. The only problem that we see right now is that this model is great for older established artist. There has to be a way for newer artist to be able to reap the rewards of their music as well as not being jerked around by the industry games that have been around for so long. This is just the beginning of this new world economy, not the end.

For more information about this deal go to this link from the New York Times, Jay Z Live Nation Deal.