As all cases: most likely it has limits. However: It seems to be “the” industry at this moment that really have gone through disruption “all the way”, and not all industries (yet?) have done that. Therefor I do seriously believe we can learn tremendously lot from it, not the least, if digging deeper into it than most people seem to have done. But here is some more about this Q.
Having that said: why things happened in the music industry the way it did, how it did happen and not the least why it did happen, is something I sincerely believe we can learn a lot from – knowledge we can use far outside business to consumer-situations.
At least lot of the pattern on what happened, not the least concerning how established music labels acted, seem to be rather general. Also the way customers changed their perceptions as well as how actors that understood what was happening managed to end up at a great place. Adding to that: the newcomers (startups) in this industry also seem to have followed the general pattern on what seems to be happening during times of disruption.
So, I seriously believe we can learn far more from what has happened to the music industry that others that already have written about it have discovered.
But to me, the music industry is just a guinea pig. Something to use, in order to understand other industries about to be disrupted.
Stop Nobody Move 