{"id":37,"date":"2005-06-03T08:26:47","date_gmt":"2005-06-03T15:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2005\/06\/03\/andy-lack\/"},"modified":"2005-06-03T08:31:09","modified_gmt":"2005-06-03T15:31:09","slug":"andy-lack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2005\/06\/03\/andy-lack\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Lack"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u00c2\u00a0Sony BMG tests technology to limit CD burning
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I’m sincerely troubled by Andy Lack’s stewardship of Sony BMG.\u00c2\u00a0 You see I’m
just not sure he likes music.\u00c2\u00a0 And this is a business that doesn’t require a
LIKE of music, but a LOVE of music.<\/p>\n

The announcement by Sony BMG of CD burning restrictions is so wrongheaded as
to make one question if Mr. Lack truly understands not only the music
landscape, but the technological landscape.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about piracy, it’s about getting
music into the hands of more people than ever, and CHARGING them for it.\u00c2\u00a0 To
initiate restrictions, to do anything to STOP the flow of music is antithetical to business principles.\u00c2\u00a0 The goal is to GROW your market, not RESTRICT IT!\u00c2\u00a0
Mr. Lack has been given credit by Howard Stringer for making the trains run on
time, but so did Mussolini.\u00c2\u00a0 Making a balance sheet work is far different
from growing, STEERING a company.\u00c2\u00a0 Just look at Apple Computer.\u00c2\u00a0 Gil Amelio was
brought in to staunch the bleeding, and he did.\u00c2\u00a0 He made the numbers work, he
provided a favorable balance sheet, certainly compared to his predecessor.\u00c2\u00a0
But, he was running the company into the ground.\u00c2\u00a0 Making the numbers work on an
ever-dwindling market share.\u00c2\u00a0 Finally Steve Jobs came in and streamlined the
product line, heralded innovation, and now Apple Computer is not only a
technological and stylistic darling, it is a WALL STREET darling.<\/p>\n

Enough already with the DRM.\u00c2\u00a0 CD burning is so LAST CENTURY!\u00c2\u00a0 Addressing CD
burning is like IBM figuring out a way to protect its rotating ball technology
in typewriters.\u00c2\u00a0 It DOESN’T MATTER!\u00c2\u00a0 Oh YES, IBM sold some typewriters after
the advent of the personal computer, to people afraid of new technology, but
suddenly, seemingly overnight, they couldn’t sell a one.\u00c2\u00a0 That business was
DONE!\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s even worse than that.\u00c2\u00a0 Who exactly is Sony penalizing with its CD
burning DRM?\u00c2\u00a0 THE PEOPLE WHO BUY THE CDS!!\u00c2\u00a0 To use the vernacular, this is
fucking NUTS!\u00c2\u00a0 These are your core customers, these are the people you want to
PLEASE!\u00c2\u00a0 Why limit the people who are paying?\u00c2\u00a0 Why alienate them?\u00c2\u00a0 Why reduce
their usage of a product they have purchased and own outright?\u00c2\u00a0 To inhibit
behavior by those who HAVE NOT purchased the CD?<\/p>\n

Theoretically, making CDs uncopyable will force others to purchase CDs rather
than settling for burned copies.\u00c2\u00a0 But, ANYBODY who works at a record store,
ANYBODY who actually is a music buyer, KNOWS that if you’re a fan of the band,
you won’t SETTLE for an imitation copy.\u00c2\u00a0 You WANT not only the original CD,
but the artwork.\u00c2\u00a0 Look at it like the people who tattoo themselves with corporate logos.\u00c2\u00a0 The company is not getting paid, people do it because they BELIEVE!\u00c2\u00a0
If you believe in a band, you want EVERYTHING THEY EVER DID!<\/p>\n

But it gets worse.\u00c2\u00a0 Because burning, when done, is not about piracy, but
making new fans.\u00c2\u00a0 The fact that Mr. Lack can’t see this is evidence that he knows
nothing about the music business.\u00c2\u00a0 The HARDEST thing to do is make new fans.\u00c2\u00a0
It’s different from TV, where there are a limited number of channels, a limited number of news outlets, there are TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CDS RELEASED A YEAR!\u00c2\u00a0
ANYTHING that encourages people to discover new bands, become fans, should be
EMBRACED, not TORN DOWN!!\u00c2\u00a0 This is called killing the golden goose.\u00c2\u00a0 Radio
sucks, MTV plays no music, the only way to find out about new music is through
friends and Mr. Lack wants to LIMIT THIS???<\/p>\n

But, of course, anybody under the age of twenty five will tell you that
burning has been eclipsed by file-trading.\u00c2\u00a0 DON’T look at P2P as theft, look at it
as WORD OF MOUTH ON STEROIDS!\u00c2\u00a0 Word of mouth you should be CHARGING FOR!<\/p>\n

This happens every goddamn day.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only do I hear from neophytes like Mr.
Lack, I hear from music business veterans, lamenting the fact that wares are
being STOLEN!\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, in a 1990s world their logic holds, but not in the twenty
first century.\u00c2\u00a0 These are NEW MARKETS!\u00c2\u00a0 Think of it like Yahoo!, or Google, they
didn’t exist previously, now they bring in boatloads of cash.\u00c2\u00a0 Online music
is a NEW MARKET!\u00c2\u00a0 To try to shoehorn it into the CD paradigm is like…Time
Warner’s Pathfinder.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, you don’t know what that is??\u00c2\u00a0 Proves the point!\u00c2\u00a0 Or
maybe you should think of AOL…\u00c2\u00a0 What if AOL sued to prevent people from
acquiring broadband??\u00c2\u00a0 To keep everybody on dialup.\u00c2\u00a0 THAT’S what the labels are
doing here.\u00c2\u00a0 If there was no broadband, there would be no video on the Web, and
online shopping would be crippled, for Websites would run too slowly.\u00c2\u00a0 TRUE, it
might be better for AOL…then again, we’re speaking of a fantasyland.\u00c2\u00a0 AOL
couldn’t stop the proliferation of broadband.\u00c2\u00a0 And now the company is changing
its model, becoming a Web portal like the aforementioned Yahoo! and Google.\u00c2\u00a0
Will they succeed?\u00c2\u00a0 Will the major labels succeed in the online world?\u00c2\u00a0 Well,
they can’t stop it, they’d better start competing NOW if they want to survive.\u00c2\u00a0
Or else, maybe they have a sincere desire to be TRAVEL AGENCIES!\u00c2\u00a0 Enterprises
built on an old wave model frozen out by the new technology of booking travel
on the Web.<\/p>\n

Andy Lack is suddenly a music expert.\u00c2\u00a0 Quoted in major media outlets.\u00c2\u00a0 But
his grasp of what’s going on in the music sphere is probably less than your
average college student.<\/p>\n

First there must be passion.<\/p>\n

And then there must be intelligence.<\/p>\n

Andy Lack is not stupid, but he’s not passionate.\u00c2\u00a0 And he’s got a blind eye
when it comes to technology.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d tell you to protest his efforts, but it
doesn’t really matter.\u00c2\u00a0 The public is doing so as we speak.\u00c2\u00a0 Think about it…you
want to restrict CD copying when you can purchase the track online and burn it
to a CD and strip all the copy protection…\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t this like erecting a fence
to keep people out but not having the fence cover the complete border?<\/p>\n

I respectfully tell Mr. Lack…your head is up your ass.<\/p>\n

Please stop pontificating and spend a week on the Web, downloading music,
visiting pitchforkmedia and myspace.\u00c2\u00a0 Zapping files via IM.\u00c2\u00a0 Frequenting music
blogs and interacting with people from all over the world.\u00c2\u00a0 THEN come back and
tell me what’s going on.\u00c2\u00a0 But you’re not gonna do this.\u00c2\u00a0 Because you just don’t
care enough.\u00c2\u00a0 Hate to tell you this, but your customer DOES!<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0Sony BMG tests technology to limit CD burning I’m sincerely troubled by Andy Lack’s stewardship of Sony BMG.\u00c2\u00a0 You see I’m just not sure he likes music.\u00c2\u00a0 And this is a business that doesn’t require a LIKE of music, but a LOVE of music. The announcement by Sony BMG of CD burning restrictions is so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}