C Records

Compass Records

Talented new folk musician: Adair Roscommon = "risky asset"

"tenth anniversary was a major milestone in the intense and unforgiging music business" (1)

"every decision made by Brown regarding new musicians could have a major impact on their business" (1)

Central Question: "Whether to licesnce artists music for a limited period of time or to produce and own the artists master recording" (1)

Short term cheaper to licecense a recorsding but it also had limited potential for profits

If the album failed to take off , the company risked owning a siginifcantly impaired asset" (1-2)

Alison Brown

Grew up in a family of lawerys

Studied history and literature at Harvard University and enrolled in the University of California - Los Angeles wehere she earned her MBA in 1986.

Worked as an associate at the puclic finance department at Smith Barney in San Fracisco.

Named Banjo Player of the year in 1992 by the International Bluegrass Association while launching her first album and being nominated for a Grammy

Started Small World Musica and Video in Nasheville, Tenessee selling folk, world and environmental records in 1993

Lauchend Compass Records in 1995

Was nominated for the Grammy in 2000 for her release Fair Weather

By 2005 Compass Records had grown to nearly 50 artists and the company averaged around 20 releases per year

The 32 billion dollar music recording industry was dominated by a handful of large, multinational corporations, which accounted for 86% of the market for global recorded music.

Global Music Market:

2 Billion in 1969

40 billion in 1995

No growth since 1995

By 2003 sector had shrunk to 1993 levels of 32 billion

Annual dollar sales were estimated to have declined at a compound annual growth rate of 5 % (3)

98% of all records sell fewer that 5000 copies so if your benchmark is a million or even 100,000 youre obviously overlooking a lot of good music that sells well enough to...