Many of you haven’t kept up on this case. I have to say I was dismayed at the Supreme Court’s ruling passed down on this case. In a nutshell, it makes the creators of the software liable for users who mis-use the software to download copyrighted material. While I agree that the music industry is an antiquated cash-cow that needs to be put to rest in favor of a download-based system with little or no management and I agree that it is illegal to download music that the musicians have decided not to allow to be downloaded, I think this decision will have disastrous results.
Point 1 - Independent Artists
Say good-bye to independent artists who are trying to get their work out to a broad audience. Point to point (P2P) networking is an easy way to share your songs and get your work heard. Many independent artists need to be heard because they don’t follow today’s music industry format; that is, they aren’t “pretty-boys” or “cutesy-girls” who all sound like some other band. I happen to PREFER this kind of music. As far as I’m concerned, most of the “Top 40″ can simply vanish. The reason they are around is because they appeal to young teens who spend mom and dad’s money on CDs with one “good” (interpreted as “better-than-average”) song and 10 crap songs.
Point 2 - Alternative Artists
Again going back to the non-mainstream, this will stifle artists. You can say goodbye to Moby, who was going nowhere in the music industry until he began releasing his songs on P2P, or Maria Schneider, who won the 2004 Best Jazz Album award without actually releasing a CD (her “album” was ONLY available via P2P). Also, you will only be able to hear what the RIAA deems you should. It is impossible to find many of the non-Top 40 songs from the previous decades anywhere BUT on P2P because once a song ends its run it goes into the RIAA archives and THEY, not the artists, determine who can play the song.
Point 3 - Exhorbitant Pricing
New CDs today cost anywhere from $10-$25, depending upon the popularity of the artist, if it’s a double CD set, if it is a “best of” compilation, etc. Why? When CDs were first introduced, they cost anywhere from $10-$25. The process is more refined today, so it is cheaper to press music to a CD. The media is cheaper today than ever before - when CDs first came out, a blank CD cost about $5 each; a little looking around and you can get blank CDs for about 15¢ each. With these increases in productivity and decrease in raw material pricing, shouldn’t the finished product also be lower?
Point 4 - Formula Groups
Today if you aren’t a “formula group” you simply won’t get signed and won’t get your music out in any other way. The recording industry is in it for the money; the artists are in it for the music (to varying degrees). The recording industry believes that if your group fits a formula followed by previous groups that you can make them money so they’ll be willing to finance you. Believe it or not, there are a great many groups that are NOT formulamatic that make great music. The reason all the music today sounds the same is that they have followed the same formula.
Point 5 - Music Quality
This hails back to a line in Point 1: Why buy an entire CD when there are only one or two “good” (interpreted as “better-than-average”) songs? Why not just get the songs? The pay-for services are great for this, but it originated with P2P. What if you don’t want the case, the artwork or any of the extras that come with a CD; what if you just want some of the music? With this decision, you’ll HAVE to buy the CD.
I’m not going to count on it, but I’d sure like to see the music industry embrace P2P technology instead of fighting it the way it has. I liken the entire situation to the legal wars at the introduction of the VCR to the masses. Once the movie industry figured out that it could make money on rentals and such, they liked the idea of the VCR; before that all they could do was piss and moan about how they were losing money and how much money they were losing. Same thing is happening here - all the recording industry is doing is pissing and moaning about how much money they are losing instead of embracing the technology and making their piece of the pie from it.
