It seems like most of the obvious problems in Music software have been solved, so you might think ?audio is done? and there is no room to grow a business in music software today.? But I believe there is a very clear field for growth in the Music software industry that mirrors what occurred in the automobile industry in the 1970?s.
At that point in time, the American automobile market was saturated with automobiles. Henry Ford?s dream seemed to be fully realized. But marketing luminaries at the time recognized that the system of mass production tended to fall short in some way in terms of providing what people wanted most. Mass production is great when everybody wants the same thing, but we don?t all want the same thing from a car ? or from music software. A gap between what mass production can provide and what the market wants is a business opportunity waiting to be tapped! But in the case of Music software, I believe there is an even bigger opportunity waiting thanks to the internet?
Beyond just creating software that zeroes in on the needs of a particular class of musician, there is the opportunity to use the internet to facilitate connecting groups with different strengths. Imagine there are two musicians: Jane, and John. Jane is really interested in composing loops, while John loves to finesse loops into a really tight beat. If Jane had a piece of software that focused on creating great loops efficiently, she could make more loops, or she could make the same amount of loops of higher quality.
Now if there was an easy way for Jane to sell her loops to John, or for John to put out a request for some new loops to Jane, Jane could sell more and better loops to John. With more and better loops, John can make more and better beats, and maybe make more money off of his passion. This is already being done to some degree by sites like BeatPort and BroadJam, but there are many links in the music chain left to connect.? And the best part is that music software that is targeted to specific modes of music production can ultimately provide better music for everyone!
If you are interested in a more in-depth explanation of the power of specialization, take a look at this video.
