Round Table Series


Putting the "e" in Entertainment:
e-Music as a Case in Point

4:00-8:30 PM, Thursday, June 17, 1999
The New York Information Technology Center, 55 Broad Street, Manhattan
It is now old news that the music business is experiencing tremendous turmoil. In fact, the "music industry" as we know it--established firms, customers, artists, retailers, competitors and others--is being redefined.

But this transformation goes way beyond music. Based on the Institute's extensive research and experience with other key dimensions of the electronic business world, we are convinced that the lessons from e-music have wide application. But such an understanding calls for a broader and more imaginative managerial perspective and dialog.

This Round Table was designed to uncover such fundamental lessons. Using e-music as a case in point, this Round Table helped participants to:

  • Understand transformed value chains and shifting roles of record labels, artists and consumers.
  • Understand, embrace and extend unprecedented rates of change
  • Understand the sudden emergence of effective new business models, which help create massive opportunities for those firms that can master such novel effective approaches.

This Round Table spanned perspectives, from a hands-on, birdseye examination of changes in the music business all the way to a broad look at the managerial meaning of such developments for all industries. Thus, the learning and takeaways from this event were both grounded and comprehensive; pragmatic and mind expanding.

With newly developed research material and case studies, and through close interaction with music and entertainment leaders, we aimed to uncover powerful blends of management approaches, organizations, talent and technology choices that are proving successful in the emerging electronic business world overall.

Round Table Speakers

From the Institute for Technology & Enterprise, Polytechnic University:



Round Table Schedule, June 17, 1999

3:30PM:     Registration

4:00PM:     Welcome: Prof. Mel Horwitch, Institute for Technology & Enterprise
Keynote Speaker: Scott Dinsdale, BMG Entertainment

4:30PM:     Part I: Metamorphosis

  • The transforming music industry--exploring the forces making this happen
  • The emerging industry structure of e-music.
  • The essential ingredients for competitive success in this sector:
    • Technology dimension
    • Artist dimension
    • Role of management
    • Organization building

Moderator:
Ziv Navoth, Institute for Technology & Enterprise

Panelists:
Steve Marks, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Scott Dinsdale, BMG Entertainment
Professor Mihir Parikh, Institute for Technology & Enterprise
Howard Singer, Reciprocal Music

6:00PM     Break

6:30PM     Part II: The Big Picture - What does this mean for music, entertainment and the rest of us?

  • Expanding the lessons to e-entertainment and beyond
  • The overall relevance for modern digital-based innovation and effective electronic business management

Moderator:
Professor Mel Horwitch, Institute for Technology & Enterprise

Panelists:
Nicholas Butterworth, SonicNet
Scott Dinsdale, BMG Entertainment
Richard Gottehrer, CEO, The Orchard
Bob Kohn, Emusic.com
Professor Bharat Rao, Institute for Technology & Enterprise

8:00PM:     What We Have Learned (An all-participant open discussion) and Concluding Remarks
Professor Mel Horwitch, Institute for Technology and Enterprise

8:30 PM     Party, featuring DJ Sean Hall (Touch Productions/Silicon Alley Connections)

Full coverage of the event will be available online on July 20