Broadband, Opportunity, and Country Music

At a meeting of the Country Music Association Board of Directors, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said few actions will do more to grow our economy and expand opportunity than building a world-class broadband infrastructure. And there can be no question that broadband will play a key role in the future of the music industry.

Let's take a quick glance at the market: Wal-Mart, who is by far the largest seller of country music, continues to cut down on floor space for CDs. Why? Well, people increasingly buy music online. However, according to a CMA survey last June, only 50 percent of core country fans have Internet access at home. This is, in part, a deployment issue that our National Broadband Plan intends to tackle through a reform of the Universal Service fund. The Plan is intended to get broadband deployed to unserved households around the nation over the next several years. But part of the problem is also an "adoption" problem: 42 percent of core country music fans who are offline, say they are not interested in getting online. This dovetails with recent findings by the FCC's Broadband Team regarding non-adopters. "Relevance" is a key factor cited by people who do not subscribe to high speed Internet access. They don't see what the Internet can do for them or why it is a service they should subscribe to.