Greetings,
Here's a little Poll I wanted to float to see how everyone felt about this topic. I'll state my opinion (as usual...) but I am curious how everyone feels about this.
So how do I feel about MP3 downloads? I think it's great, and what's more it's a revolution in music and entertainment technology. It is unfortunate that folks in the music industry don't see it that way. They are bound and determined to keep their 1982 business model, which forces us consumers to buy whole pre-packaged CDs at their prices. Yes, I also think artists should get every penny coming to them for their efforts, as well as the music industry itself - they are a legitimate business after all and we've all benefitted from the work they've done. But, as in 1982 when re-recordable audio cassettes became a reality, there is a new technology that gives consumers (i.e., us) more power over what we listen to and when. The law was changed back then to accommodate this new technology, and consumers gained the legal right to re-record music they'd legally purchased for their own private use - so long as they didn't distribute it on a mass scale. They were even legally able to give friends cassettes. The recent court ruling in the U.S. in the Napster case, however, saw the court agree with the music industry's claim that the internet does not constitute a new technology by the standards of 1982 (!), and the music industry's tactic since then has been to sue anyone who dares to claim that it isn't still 1982.
A recent column in the Wall Street Journal mentioned something to the effect that the film industry was trying to avoid the music industry's situation vis-a-vis internet free distribution networks, which is that they've had to essentially declare war on their own customers. I liked Napster and was willing (still am) to pay a reasonable fee for it or a similar service. I liked it because I could control my CD content, I could find obscure songs not readily available in the local CD shop, and compared to the amount of CDs I buy every year it did save me money in the end.
(It saved me money because I didn't have to pay as much for the huge marketing campaigns. The Wall Street Journal a month back had an article about a young girl from Ireland who'd been picked up by a talent scout and brought to Los Angeles, wined & dined, taken everywhere in limos - only to discover after a year that this girl just didn't have whatever sound they were looking for, so they shipped her back to Ireland...having spent more than $2 million USD on her! The article claimed this type of very bad marketing practice that would get you fired in any other business was not unusual in the music industry. The article also pointed out that artists typically only get about $1.00 of every CD purchased; the rest covers marketing, productions, etc. In other words, no matter what kind of music you buy, you are partially subsidizing such idiotic industry gaffs as spending millions looking for the next Britney Spears or Backstreet Boyz. That's why a CD costs c. $16.99-21.99!)
So, in my humble opinion, the music industry is basically saying "Screw you!" to artists and "Screw you!" to consumers in their quest to retain that old 1982 business-model cash cow, instead of adapting to what could be a much cheaper and enpowering distribution technology (the net) for both artists and consumers. I will always buy CDs or future equivalents, because some artists produce great CDs - who could ever pick just one tune off Miles Davis' "Pictures of Spain" or Peter Gabriel's "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"? But I can be picky with some REM or Tool albums. The technology exists to allow me to pick and choose what music I want to listen to (from home!) and like most people I'm willing to pay for it. Why does the music industry so badly want to believe it's still 1982? It's not.
Here are a couple links for those who want to read more:
This one is for a group fighting against the music industry's attempts to take away our existing rights by encrypting CDs and forcing you to seek digital permission to play your legally-purchased CDs on multiple CD players. This one is Walt Mossberg's site. He's the technology writer for the Wall Street Journal, and while you'll have to poke around the site for relevant articles he has some impressive (and well-informed) things to say on the topic.
Here's a little Poll I wanted to float to see how everyone felt about this topic. I'll state my opinion (as usual...) but I am curious how everyone feels about this.
So how do I feel about MP3 downloads? I think it's great, and what's more it's a revolution in music and entertainment technology. It is unfortunate that folks in the music industry don't see it that way. They are bound and determined to keep their 1982 business model, which forces us consumers to buy whole pre-packaged CDs at their prices. Yes, I also think artists should get every penny coming to them for their efforts, as well as the music industry itself - they are a legitimate business after all and we've all benefitted from the work they've done. But, as in 1982 when re-recordable audio cassettes became a reality, there is a new technology that gives consumers (i.e., us) more power over what we listen to and when. The law was changed back then to accommodate this new technology, and consumers gained the legal right to re-record music they'd legally purchased for their own private use - so long as they didn't distribute it on a mass scale. They were even legally able to give friends cassettes. The recent court ruling in the U.S. in the Napster case, however, saw the court agree with the music industry's claim that the internet does not constitute a new technology by the standards of 1982 (!), and the music industry's tactic since then has been to sue anyone who dares to claim that it isn't still 1982.
A recent column in the Wall Street Journal mentioned something to the effect that the film industry was trying to avoid the music industry's situation vis-a-vis internet free distribution networks, which is that they've had to essentially declare war on their own customers. I liked Napster and was willing (still am) to pay a reasonable fee for it or a similar service. I liked it because I could control my CD content, I could find obscure songs not readily available in the local CD shop, and compared to the amount of CDs I buy every year it did save me money in the end.
(It saved me money because I didn't have to pay as much for the huge marketing campaigns. The Wall Street Journal a month back had an article about a young girl from Ireland who'd been picked up by a talent scout and brought to Los Angeles, wined & dined, taken everywhere in limos - only to discover after a year that this girl just didn't have whatever sound they were looking for, so they shipped her back to Ireland...having spent more than $2 million USD on her! The article claimed this type of very bad marketing practice that would get you fired in any other business was not unusual in the music industry. The article also pointed out that artists typically only get about $1.00 of every CD purchased; the rest covers marketing, productions, etc. In other words, no matter what kind of music you buy, you are partially subsidizing such idiotic industry gaffs as spending millions looking for the next Britney Spears or Backstreet Boyz. That's why a CD costs c. $16.99-21.99!)
So, in my humble opinion, the music industry is basically saying "Screw you!" to artists and "Screw you!" to consumers in their quest to retain that old 1982 business-model cash cow, instead of adapting to what could be a much cheaper and enpowering distribution technology (the net) for both artists and consumers. I will always buy CDs or future equivalents, because some artists produce great CDs - who could ever pick just one tune off Miles Davis' "Pictures of Spain" or Peter Gabriel's "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"? But I can be picky with some REM or Tool albums. The technology exists to allow me to pick and choose what music I want to listen to (from home!) and like most people I'm willing to pay for it. Why does the music industry so badly want to believe it's still 1982? It's not.
Here are a couple links for those who want to read more:
This one is for a group fighting against the music industry's attempts to take away our existing rights by encrypting CDs and forcing you to seek digital permission to play your legally-purchased CDs on multiple CD players. This one is Walt Mossberg's site. He's the technology writer for the Wall Street Journal, and while you'll have to poke around the site for relevant articles he has some impressive (and well-informed) things to say on the topic.
