@thwaller - thanks for your thoughts!
I will let the rest of my team (thanks @zas, @reosarevok) run with the discussion about the releases.
As for your points about the music industry I agree – it is overly complex and MB does have a hard time getting beyond what I call public metadata (the data that is freely available – like on the back of a CD). ISRCs are a great example of this – the centralised ISRC database is missing and MB end users do not clearly understand what an IRSC is for.
But really, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to problems in the industry. Lack of good data, a lack of a fair/level playing field for new artists, opaque accounting systems, cronyism and many more issues make the current industry an absolute minefield for anyone trying to enter the space. A perfect nightmare, really.
I’ve seen many companies come in with the best of intentions to try and “fix” the problems in the industry. Most recently a wave of companies all wielding blockchains had all the answers and one by one they all died out – mostly kept out by the industry itself. And industry resistant to any sort of change.
So my question is this: How do we build a parallel universe music industry? Rather than change the existing system, can we imagine a better system with fewer intermediaries who are taking money without adding real value? Can we pay artists and curators fairly? Can we make it more interesting for new entrants into the market, wether they are artists, curators or computer geeks?
If you have thoughts towards this goal, I would love to hear them!