“When the winds of change are blowing, some people are building shelters and some are building windmills” ~Chinese Proverb

Our concepts of ownership are rapidly changing. The quiet revolution that’s now getting noisy is the sharing economy. We’ve gotten a taste with Airbnb and Uber, but it’s just getting started.

This new mentality already affects the way we consume music. We’re entering a world where “access trumps ownership.” What’s the value in owning a single album when you can have access to an unlimited library? So as iTunes sales decrease, streaming services take the reigns.

Most artists see this is a problem, and they’re right. But almost all of them miss the bigger picture. Government regulations, shady deals, and other factors create a system where artists aren’t fairly compensated from streaming plays. No doubt, this needs to be fixed.

But the reality is, the days of making a living from selling music are deteriorating. Higher compensation for streaming music is only a temporary solution to a much bigger paradigm shift. The economics of all industries are being fundamentally disrupted thanks to the “copy machine” we call the internet.

“When copies are super abundant, they become worthless. When copies are super abundant, stuff which can’t be copied becomes scarce and valuable. When copies are free, you need to sell things which can not be copied.” ~Kevin Kelly

There is nothing more abundant online than music (except cat videos). Artists need to reevaluate the value they create and how to best monetize it. In a world where music becomes commoditized (and free), what do they sell?

The disruptive technologies and innovations that devalued music in the first place are the same ones laying the blueprint for the new music industry. In short, artists have a lot to learn from startups. The parallels run deep.

Both create value in the world and attempt to monetize a portion of that value. Both look to build a critical mass of users (fans), moving from early adopters to the mainstream. Eventually they aim to monetize in some liquidity event (album release, tour, etc). Both operate on love and sweat equity.

Let’s dive into some specific lessons artists can takeaway from disruptive startups.