Sharing Still Divisive<\/a>, on Lala.com.<\/p>\n"Newsweek" broke Napster.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, college students were rabid for the service.\u00c2\u00a0 But only when it was on the cover of NEWSWEEK did the hoi polloi, the average citizen, say I’VE GOT TO CHECK THIS OUT!<\/p>\n
I thought Lala.com was inconsequential until this article came out.\u00c2\u00a0 On the front page of the Sunday L.A. "Times" Business section.\u00c2\u00a0 With a big picture.\u00c2\u00a0 I guarantee you Nguyen and his buddies are laughing TONIGHT!\u00c2\u00a0 Because a zillion people read about their company and want CDs for $1.49!!!<\/p>\n
That’s what Lala’s selling.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh sure, the discs are used, but hasn’t the industry been telling us for YEARS that CDs are virtually indestructible, that they’ll last almost forever?\u00c2\u00a0 So, you get this disc you insert it into your computer and VOILA!\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got the whole album as files.\u00c2\u00a0 And you sell said disc to ANOTHER individual, recouping most of your buck and a half investment.\u00c2\u00a0 Who needs that Russian site with ten cent tracks when you can acquire them LEGALLY for this price.<\/p>\n
Yup, it’s the first sale doctrine.<\/p>\n
I’ll make it simple for you.\u00c2\u00a0 Imagine if every time you resold your Toyota the Japanese car company wanted a cut.\u00c2\u00a0 That wouldn’t fly.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why Congress ain’t about to tackle THIS issue.\u00c2\u00a0 People buy something, they want to be free to do with it what they want.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, the American religion isn’t Christianity, but eBay!<\/p>\n
Yup, under present law, Lala.com is perfectly legal.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh sure, the labels got a record rental law passed decades ago, to hinder home taping’s supposed hit upon their business.\u00c2\u00a0 So, maybe they could get a law passed.\u00c2\u00a0 But shit, how long would that take?\u00c2\u00a0 The remaining lifespan of the CD?<\/p>\n
But Lala.com doesn’t stand on a legal opinion, that their service is legal, and fuck the labels.\u00c2\u00a0 They come up with all these crazy reasons why their site is GOOD for the music industry.<\/p>\n
Now more people acquiring more music at a lower price is good for the business.\u00c2\u00a0 But only if those who make and market said music GET PAID!<\/p>\n
I read this article and laughed hysterically.\u00c2\u00a0 Because the labels are fucked.\u00c2\u00a0 And now, seven years later, they STILL have not got a reasonable online solution.\u00c2\u00a0 One that cuts the public off at the pass.\u00c2\u00a0 That doesn’t label people thieves, but gives them essentially no choice BUT to pay.<\/p>\n
Oh, the labels could have legalized Napster five odd years ago. But NO, they’d rather sue Hummer Winblad, Napster’s financial foundation, and Bertelsmann, to get mere cents on the dollar.\u00c2\u00a0 Who’s STEERING THIS SHIP?<\/p>\n
In a country with no truth, does it surprise you that the public no longer listens to the windbags?\u00c2\u00a0 That it does what it wants to?<\/p>\n
Music will survive the major labels’ ineptitude.\u00c2\u00a0 It will flourish.<\/p>\n
But if only these guys would speak truth.\u00c2\u00a0 That they want to milk their cash cow for as long as possible and when the movie ends, when they walk away, they’ll be fucking RICH!\u00c2\u00a0 THAT’S their end game.\u00c2\u00a0 Not a newfangled distribution model.<\/p>\n
No, I’m not indicting the worker bees.<\/p>\n
But those running the operation.\u00c2\u00a0 Be sure, they only believe in dollars, today.\u00c2\u00a0 Not music.\u00c2\u00a0 Not even tomorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re like heroin addicts looking for their next fix, SAYING they’re interested in getting clean, but having no intention of EVER going to rehab.\u00c2\u00a0 On their road to O.D.’ing, like every unrehabilitated junkie.<\/p>\n
But I don’t like that these Silicon Valley scumbags like Nguyen are just looking for ways to make money off of others’ efforts.\u00c2\u00a0 Lying on their way to their IPO.<\/p>\n
Count me out.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the rest of the public.\u00c2\u00a0 Stealing files P2P and leaving BOTH of these entities in the dust.<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ever notice that everybody’s a scumbag? I guess the reason you die at seventy is because you’ve seen the movie.\u00c2\u00a0 You realize that America is a scam.\u00c2\u00a0 Full of slimy hucksters out to make a buck.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, you’d think with all the religious zealotry in the States these days we’d have a kinder, gentler nation.\u00c2\u00a0 […]<\/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-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s96vPs-lalacom","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415","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=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}