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The Event Industry Is Being Confronted By Its Napster Moment
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The Event Industry Is Being Confronted By Its Napster Moment

Rafat Ali
Skift, 2020
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Rafat Ali was a cub reporter when the music industry underwent a permanent shift from albums and physical products to singles and digital products. He later watched the newspaper industry get decimated by the internet, wondering why they hadn’t learned from the music industry. Now, he’s calling the next digital revolution. Aided by COVID-19 and the work-from-home revolution, Ali predicts that the lucrative event industry will suffer a number of painful changes as Zoom, and related virtual technologies, replace expensive, in-person meetings, conferences and exhibitions. 

Take-Aways

  • The event industry probably saw its all-time peak in 2019.
  • In the 1990s, the music industry faced disruption, first by Napster, then by iTunes and Spotify.
  • In the early 2000s, the digital revolution came for the newspaper industry, and, in 2010, for the video entertainment industry.

About the Author

Rafat Ali is the founder of Skift, which offers news, data and other services to business travelers and the wider travel industry.

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