Beau Brashares

Many people have looked to the Internet as a means for changing the future of the music industry. In the following essay, Beau Brashares maintains that the Internet will have limited influence on how rock music is produced and distributed. Although record contracts can be exploitative and are weighed heavily in favor of the label, few musicians can succeed without a contract. Brashares writes that major labels continue to wield power because they know how to promote acts. Brashares has worked in the music industry and has published many articles on music, law, and technology. This viewpoint originally appeared in the briefing book for "Signal or Noise: The Future of Music on the Net," a symposium that was sponsored by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the Electronic...