Singing for supper on QVC

I've read the article in today's Sunday Times and I'm still not sure what to make of it - artists singing on QVC to sell albums?

For me, Matthew Goodman goes a little far when he calls it 'selling their soul'. No, Matthew, selling your soul is allowing your single, nay, your face, to be used to advertise deodorant. Come on, Alexandra, you are so much better than that.

Is it sad, or savvy, that recording companies are scraping the barrel of recorded music sales by turning to the 'we buy anything on impulse' audience that watch QVC. Sure it may shift a few units, but will these people actually go to the concerts, buy the merchandise, and follow up releases? Unlikely, but still plausible I suppose. Either this is the clever discovery of a profitable new segment, or the last ditch attempt of a dying swan.

I reckon that recorded music is heading one way - free. Or as free as it can be under some sort of subscription, rights, or rental basis. With only collectors, luddites and members of the slow movement regularly buying physical products.

I also believe that there is a big elephant in the room, which the music industry has to acknowledge before it can move forwards. Illegal downloading has not robbed them of income per se, as suggested in the article. There is no way on earth that the quantity of everything downloaded would ever have been purchased. Many illegal downloaders probably don't even get round to listening to half of it. Yes, it will have had an impact on revenues, but what about general social trends. Kids who had nothing else to do thirty years ago except watch TV with their parents, listen to their friends' mix tapes, or play on their Commodore 64 (if they were lucky) now have PSPs, Facebook, iphones, wii's etc. While the grown-ups now eat out, go to the cinema, cook with Jamie's 20-minute meals app. Maybe the time for listening to music has just been squeezed out by our busy, have-it-all lives.

Yes, all creative industries need to tackle the issue of protecting artistic content. But seriously, the music business needs to spend less money on old rope, and put more efforts into making money in the future - be that from recorded music, or something else. And I don't think QVC is the answer. But then what do I know.