A view from the trenches of music 2.0

In recent history, the music industry has been built on a small number of relationships, largely driven from the top down. While the actual music forges a direct link between musicians and their fans, the reality of the industry is that a number of intermediaries interrupt that relationship, forcing musicians to communicate through their management companies and record labels. The promise of the new technologies is to reconfigure the possibilities, allowing the emergence of new relationships. The communication and distribution potential of the Internet (which can be encapsulated as Music 2.0) suggests that disintermediation and reconfigured relationships are possible. But what is the reality of this promise? In the context of a broader global experience, this paper draws on primary research consisting of interviews with a range of Australian musicians to explore how they may be forging new networks of opportunity, and how realistic the promise of Music 2.0 might be.