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1. Kathrine Eads
   Comment by Kathrine Eads | 2005/11/21 at 10:12:02

   Styx?  Gotta say my 10 yr old and his best buddy LOVE them.  His friend recently had a "Classic Rock" birthday party (turning 10) and gave all the kids a burnt CD as their parting gift….and the players?…Styx, Journey, Bowie, The Who, AC DC, and the Beatles.

   You’ve got to ask the right QUESTION!

   I can understand labels being upset about their wares being stolen, but is this theft the major issue?  Is this really the problem?  Is the glass really half-empty?  Or, if you step back and look at the behavior from a different perspective does everything appear DIFFERENT?

   I ask you.  Do you think the mother of the ten year old above would have BOUGHT each and every attendee to her kid’s party a legit CD?  I’ve never known a ten year old to have fewer than ten kids at his birthday celebration, and multiply ten times $12.99 and you’ve got $130.  Was this mom really gonna lay out this bread?  Furthermore, the CD her son passed out isn’t buyable at any price.  It’s unique to him, customized by him, better than any NOW collection.  What I see here isn’t theft, but incredible DEMAND!  If I were the major labels I would be less interested in rolling back this behavior than MONETIZING IT!

   Just because the major labels are tanking that doesn’t mean all that product burned and traded would have been PAID FOR!  Am I really supposed to believe the kid above would have played tracks by these acts at his party and his friends would have rushed out to the store and BOUGHT CDs?  No, this birthday boy was doing the labels’ work, he was TURNING PEOPLE ON!

   The major labels still think it’s about terrestrial radio.

   Think about that.  The only format that can sell tonnage is Top Forty.  And, there aren’t even forty records ON the damn format.  And most of them are hip-hop or R&B.  If you were running a label wouldn’t you see this as a PROBLEM?  That there was nowhere to HEAR your new wares?  But rather than ponder this issue, the labels would rather pick priorities, spend a fortune on marketing and hope that they get one of the very few slots.  That’s why Tony Brummel’s Victory Records is such a big story, his albums are sold WITHOUT airplay, via WORD OF MOUTH!  Can you imagine Atreyu on Top Forty radio?  Victory empowers its fans, and the FANS sell the records.

   And let me tell you something irrational.  If you get turned on to something and really like it you buy the CD.  I know it doesn’t make sense.  But, if you BELIEVE in something, you’ve got to own the official release.  Oh, you don’t need the official release of some flavor of the month, but if an act MEANS something to you you want to own the real product, so you can hold it in your hands, read the lyrics, show it to your FRIENDS when they come over.

   But do I believe this behavior will last FOREVER?

   No.  I do think there will come a time when files will be enough, and the concert t-shirt will suffice as a badge of membership.  Not bad if you’re a touring act, but if you’re a recording artist only, or a songwriter, you’re shit out of luck.  Unless, the new behaviors are monetized!

   The major labels have positioned themselves as the protectors of art.  They frame their cause as identical to that of the artist.  But this is untrue.  The major labels are BUSINESSES!  Businesses are only interested in the bottom line.  A public company, and all of the majors ARE, only has one duty, to return a decent profit for its shareholders.  As long as the behavior is not illegal, shareholders don’t care HOW this is done.  They don’t care if you sell CDs of goose farts, as long as the stock goes up in value and/or they get dividends.  Whereas the artist is primarily interested in having his work reach the most people possible.  Sure, he wants to be paid, but this is SECONDARY to having as many people possible exposed to his music.  What do you say to the marginal artist, who can’t get on MTV or Top Forty radio?  Should HE be shit out of luck?  Not every act signed to Sony whose music was released on a copy-protected CD is a household name.  Sony is doing its best to PREVENT these acts from being successful.  By deterring ripping and trading, which is how these acts are BROKEN, since they can’t get any airplay.

   If I were a new recording artist, I’d be THRILLED if people were burning my CDs and trading my music.  This would mean they dug it.  And they’d come to see me live, I could have a career.

   But, once again, the interests of the label and act are diametrically opposed.  The label doesn’t get a share of road revenue.  The company wants it, but almost nobody will give it to them.  Because this is the money acts LIVE ON!  Furthermore, with major label accounting being what it is, working for Sony would be like working for Wal-Mart, you’d have to go on public assistance to make ends meet.

   But what about the aforementioned acts that don’t tour, or are superstars, and songwriters?  Well, if P2P were licensed, they’d do just fine.  The more people sold the music to each other, the more money these people would make.

   It’s not a desperate landscape, it’s an OPPORTUNITY OF RICHES!  For the labels too.  What if they could sell a multiple of what they’re selling now, of a much broader selection of acts, wouldn’t that be great?

   OF COURSE!

   But they’d have less control.  You wouldn’t need a major label to get paid.  And they’re fearful of change.  They like the cushy situation they had.  Then again, they’re never going to have that cushy situation again.  They can futilely try to stop burning and trading but this IS NOT going to motivate more people to buy more music.  Just the opposite, in fact.  With fewer people hearing unfamiliar, new music, fewer purchases will be made.  It’s no coincidence that CD sales were at their peak at the height of the original Napster.

   Burning is old technology.  Akin to the VHS tape.  You can tape something for somebody and take it to their house, but it’s easier (more convenient and not outrageously expensive) to subscribe to the cable channel yourself, easier to just set YOUR OWN recorder.  Then again, VCRs are completely passe.  Digital video recorders will be as ubiquitous as DVD players in the not too distant future.  Should movie studios crack down on VHS taping?

   Then again, the DVD player is about to be history.  There might be a window for HD-DVD, but as computing power increases, as Internet speeds get faster, the movie will just be zapped to your house.  Because it’s easier and more CONVENIENT!

   But the music business is AHEAD of the movie business.  TENS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE own iPods.  I’d be more concerned about getting more music ON those iPods than keeping people from filling them.

   They’re not filling them at ninety nine cents a track.  And if you make the CDs unrippable digitally, people will rip them analog, or burn them and then re-rip them.  Stop FIGHTING the future and HARNESS IT!  Labels have finally broken radio’s lock, but they just don’t REALIZE IT!

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1. Kathrine Eads
   Comment by Kathrine Eads | 2005/11/21 at 10:12:02

   Styx?  Gotta say my 10 yr old and his best buddy LOVE them.  His friend recently had a "Classic Rock" birthday party (turning 10) and gave all the kids a burnt CD as their parting gift….and the players?…Styx, Journey, Bowie, The Who, AC DC, and the Beatles.

   You’ve got to ask the right QUESTION!

   I can understand labels being upset about their wares being stolen, but is this theft the major issue?  Is this really the problem?  Is the glass really half-empty?  Or, if you step back and look at the behavior from a different perspective does everything appear DIFFERENT?

   I ask you.  Do you think the mother of the ten year old above would have BOUGHT each and every attendee to her kid’s party a legit CD?  I’ve never known a ten year old to have fewer than ten kids at his birthday celebration, and multiply ten times $12.99 and you’ve got $130.  Was this mom really gonna lay out this bread?  Furthermore, the CD her son passed out isn’t buyable at any price.  It’s unique to him, customized by him, better than any NOW collection.  What I see here isn’t theft, but incredible DEMAND!  If I were the major labels I would be less interested in rolling back this behavior than MONETIZING IT!

   Just because the major labels are tanking that doesn’t mean all that product burned and traded would have been PAID FOR!  Am I really supposed to believe the kid above would have played tracks by these acts at his party and his friends would have rushed out to the store and BOUGHT CDs?  No, this birthday boy was doing the labels’ work, he was TURNING PEOPLE ON!

   The major labels still think it’s about terrestrial radio.

   Think about that.  The only format that can sell tonnage is Top Forty.  And, there aren’t even forty records ON the damn format.  And most of them are hip-hop or R&B.  If you were running a label wouldn’t you see this as a PROBLEM?  That there was nowhere to HEAR your new wares?  But rather than ponder this issue, the labels would rather pick priorities, spend a fortune on marketing and hope that they get one of the very few slots.  That’s why Tony Brummel’s Victory Records is such a big story, his albums are sold WITHOUT airplay, via WORD OF MOUTH!  Can you imagine Atreyu on Top Forty radio?  Victory empowers its fans, and the FANS sell the records.

   And let me tell you something irrational.  If you get turned on to something and really like it you buy the CD.  I know it doesn’t make sense.  But, if you BELIEVE in something, you’ve got to own the official release.  Oh, you don’t need the official release of some flavor of the month, but if an act MEANS something to you you want to own the real product, so you can hold it in your hands, read the lyrics, show it to your FRIENDS when they come over.

   But do I believe this behavior will last FOREVER?

   No.  I do think there will come a time when files will be enough, and the concert t-shirt will suffice as a badge of membership.  Not bad if you’re a touring act, but if you’re a recording artist only, or a songwriter, you’re shit out of luck.  Unless, the new behaviors are monetized!

   The major labels have positioned themselves as the protectors of art.  They frame their cause as identical to that of the artist.  But this is untrue.  The major labels are BUSINESSES!  Businesses are only interested in the bottom line.  A public company, and all of the majors ARE, only has one duty, to return a decent profit for its shareholders.  As long as the behavior is not illegal, shareholders don’t care HOW this is done.  They don’t care if you sell CDs of goose farts, as long as the stock goes up in value and/or they get dividends.  Whereas the artist is primarily interested in having his work reach the most people possible.  Sure, he wants to be paid, but this is SECONDARY to having as many people possible exposed to his music.  What do you say to the marginal artist, who can’t get on MTV or Top Forty radio?  Should HE be shit out of luck?  Not every act signed to Sony whose music was released on a copy-protected CD is a household name.  Sony is doing its best to PREVENT these acts from being successful.  By deterring ripping and trading, which is how these acts are BROKEN, since they can’t get any airplay.

   If I were a new recording artist, I’d be THRILLED if people were burning my CDs and trading my music.  This would mean they dug it.  And they’d come to see me live, I could have a career.

   But, once again, the interests of the label and act are diametrically opposed.  The label doesn’t get a share of road revenue.  The company wants it, but almost nobody will give it to them.  Because this is the money acts LIVE ON!  Furthermore, with major label accounting being what it is, working for Sony would be like working for Wal-Mart, you’d have to go on public assistance to make ends meet.

   But what about the aforementioned acts that don’t tour, or are superstars, and songwriters?  Well, if P2P were licensed, they’d do just fine.  The more people sold the music to each other, the more money these people would make.

   It’s not a desperate landscape, it’s an OPPORTUNITY OF RICHES!  For the labels too.  What if they could sell a multiple of what they’re selling now, of a much broader selection of acts, wouldn’t that be great?

   OF COURSE!

   But they’d have less control.  You wouldn’t need a major label to get paid.  And they’re fearful of change.  They like the cushy situation they had.  Then again, they’re never going to have that cushy situation again.  They can futilely try to stop burning and trading but this IS NOT going to motivate more people to buy more music.  Just the opposite, in fact.  With fewer people hearing unfamiliar, new music, fewer purchases will be made.  It’s no coincidence that CD sales were at their peak at the height of the original Napster.

   Burning is old technology.  Akin to the VHS tape.  You can tape something for somebody and take it to their house, but it’s easier (more convenient and not outrageously expensive) to subscribe to the cable channel yourself, easier to just set YOUR OWN recorder.  Then again, VCRs are completely passe.  Digital video recorders will be as ubiquitous as DVD players in the not too distant future.  Should movie studios crack down on VHS taping?

   Then again, the DVD player is about to be history.  There might be a window for HD-DVD, but as computing power increases, as Internet speeds get faster, the movie will just be zapped to your house.  Because it’s easier and more CONVENIENT!

   But the music business is AHEAD of the movie business.  TENS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE own iPods.  I’d be more concerned about getting more music ON those iPods than keeping people from filling them.

   They’re not filling them at ninety nine cents a track.  And if you make the CDs unrippable digitally, people will rip them analog, or burn them and then re-rip them.  Stop FIGHTING the future and HARNESS IT!  Labels have finally broken radio’s lock, but they just don’t REALIZE IT!

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