Show me the money - where's it at in the music business?

Whilst many cogitate (including me!) on the state of the record business and the future of music, we all know that there is still plenty of money to be made from music.

This weighty article in the Economist looks at the strange state of affairs that sees one part of the industry colapsing and others flourishing.

Yet the music business is surprisingly healthy, and becoming more so. Will Page of PRS for Music, which collects royalties on behalf of writers and publishers, has added up the entire British music business. He reckons it turned over £3.9 billion ($6.1 billion) in 2009, 5% more than in 2008. It was the second consecutive year of growth. Much of the money bypassed the record companies. But even they managed to pull in £1.1 billion last year, up 2% from 2008. A surprising number of things are making money for artists and music firms, and others show great promise. The music business is not dying. But it is changing profoundly.

Read it on the Economist site.