CANNES, France (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — While speaking at this year's MIDEM conference last Saturday, Vivendi impresario Jean-Bernard Levy took the opportunity to express his positive feelings about the state of the music industry. It was Levy's contention that the woes facing the recorded music business are overblown and that while the transition into a digital medium has been turbulent, he still sees a viable market.
"I think altogether today there is an exaggeration in the industry," Reuters reported Levy as saying "Of course it is not doing that well, but look at us, we have flat revenues, a good two digit margins and it's not as dark as what many people describe."
Levy also expressed a belief that the shelf-life for the compact disk is far from over. "If we (have the right creative policy) and if we understand the technology well and the consumer well, then… digital entertainment will continue to expand and will be very successful," he said. "It is a transition into a very diversified model, of which CDs will still play a part. So I do not think it is black and white."
Of course, Levy's comments must be considered in the light of Vivendi, a publicly-traded firm's recent stock woes. After rumors that the firm was looking into raising $2.9 billion in capital to acquire Neuf Cegetel for their fiber optics capabilities in order to position Vivendi to compete with French communications behemoth Telecom. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
