If you have some time, get yourself a cup of coffee and read this article, concerning the state of the music industry and the recent demise of OiNK:
http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2007/10/when-pigs-fly-death-of-oink-birth-of.html
“When Pigs Fly” is a thorough, thoughtful and balanced discourse on online piracy and file-sharing. It’s long, but full of insight and powerful ideas.
Here are a few quotes from the post:
For the major labels, it’s over. It’s fucking over. You’re going to burn to the fucking ground, and we’re all going to dance around the fire. And it’s your own fault.
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Through sites like Oink, the amount and variety of music I listen to has skyrocketed, opening me up to hundreds of artists I never would have experienced otherwise. I’m now fans of their music, and I may not have bought their CDs, but I would have never bought their CD anyway, because I would have never heard of them! And now that I have heard of them, I go to their concerts, and I talk them up to my friends, and give my friends the music to listen to for themselves, so they can go to the concerts, and tell their friends, and so on.
…
4. Get political. The fast-track to ending all this nonsense is changing intellectual property laws. The RIAA lobbies politicians to manipulate copyright laws for their own interests, so voters need to lobby politicians for the peoples’ interests. Contact your local representatives and senators. Tell them politely and articulately that you believe copyright laws no longer reflect the interests of the people, and you will not vote for them if they support the interests of the RIAA. Encourage them to draft legislation that helps change the outdated laws and disproportionate penalties the RIAA champions. Contact information for state representatives can be found here, and contact information for senators can be found here. You can email them, but calling on the phone or writing them actual letters is always more effective. had to know this day was coming, right? Your very industry is founded on an unfair business model of owning art you didn’t create in exchange for the services you provide. It’s rigged so that you win every time – even if the artist does well, you do ten times better. It was able to exist because you controlled the distribution, but now that’s back in the hands of the people, and you let the ball drop when you could have evolved.
I still can’t believe people get fired up over STEALING. I don’t fucking care what argument you all have, the fact that you are mad because your portal to THIEVERY was shut down disgusts me. With oink and other trackers there is no fair use going on, it’s STEALING, not only from the labels but also from the artists themselves.
The people that need to change the music industry are the artists. Bands like radiohead and nine inch nails are going to teach the music labels, not the general music consumer. I know you like to think that eveyone that listens to music is an ipod totin’ college student out to change the world but they aren’t. There are 14 year old girls listening to (oh god no) Brittney Spears who actually SPEND MONEY on music, people like my father who still loves to walk down to cactus records and buy cd’s and take them home and excitedly unwrap them. People like me who pay 15 bucks a month for unlimited music downloads from Microsoft that are drm’d to all hell.
The artists are the ones with the power to take on the music industry. THEY created their music, THEY signed away all their rights, THEY got greedy for money that the music labels offered them, THEY need to learn to take control of their creativity. They get greedy and sign all their power away and then whine about it later. Undeniably the music industry fucked up by not taking advantage of the internet, but that means it’s prime time for artists to take advantage of it and in the process take back control of their music!!! *cough ala radiohead and NIN cough*
I pay for music, dont’ try and represent me you thieves.
My only beef is with Microsoft to remove the DRM from the Zune marketplace 😀
Did you READ the article/post? I think it provides a very balanced response to your point– about us getting so fired up about being barred from stealing music.
I think the problem, though, Jade, is that you’re just too old. That’s why you still “buy” music. =P
For me … my first experience with “music”, really, wasn’t going to the local record store, finding an album that I wanted to buy, carrying it home and excitedly unwrapping it and putting it in… No. My first real experience with “music” was being taught how to use IRC to download music. My excitement was watching the download progress bar go across the screen on my screaming 28K dial-up connection. My excitement was listening to the track for the first time when it finished downloading … or if I couldn’t wait, listening to however much was downloaded…
To further complicate the issue… I spent my first year or two downloading music … in Christian Music IRC channels. Yeah, it’s ironic. Most of the music I “stole” my first few years was Christian rock.
For me, I’m very much a part of the generation for whom getting new music doesn’t involve a trip downtown, or even outside. And you can try to regale me with claims that “this is how music was! This is how music must always be!” but you miss the reality, entirely, that music distribution has CHANGED. It’s evolving.
Anyhow.
Meh, i’ve never been the type to go to a brick and mortar store for music. I’m from Whitehall, we didn’t HAVE a store that sold music. The ol dial up was my musical savior, but now i’ve grown up, become and adult, and realized that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Someone is losing in this whole downloading thing, and it’s definitely not the downloaders so they need to quick freaking whining.
Damn right I’m fired up about stealing. So was Robin Hood. Not only do we venerate him now, but he got turned into a badass fox in one of the pinnacles of animated theater.
The reality of the situation still isn’t being addressed. The losers aren’t the artists. You’ve clearly not read the blog post. The losers are the record label and THEIR greed in the marketplace. Yes, you’re right Jade. The artists “technically” control the industry and I agree that its moves like Radiohead’s that will be the cornerstone of the shift in the music industry (and not music fans lobbying to politicians). The copyright laws aren’t going to change, but things like what Radiohead did are going to become more popular. Quickly.
Furthermore… as it stands thievery from “the man” (record industry) isn’t something that should be done for the free music, in a lot of ways it is a stance in and of itself. My decision to NOT purchase the newest smashing pumpkins album but to “steal” it was a very concious one. One that I immediately followed up by going to a Pumpkins show, paying 60 dollars for a ticket (equating to 30 dollars, instead of 2 dollars that would have gone to the artist had I bought their album) and bought an additional $30 in merchandise (of which I’d approximate at least 15-20 dollars went straight to the Pumpkins).
Essentially what I’m saying is a collaboration of the blog post Mark linked to on Oink. We as consumers aren’t going to change the laws governing music. Its simply ridiculous to assume such a change can and/or will occur. Artists will begin in the near future to distribute their music exclusively digitally and (probably) for free.
But as consumers we can HELP the artists make this shift by supporting the bands we love in ways that really make a difference. Download a new band? Like their sound? Go see a show and buy a t-shirt. Spread the word, share the mp3’s and goto a concert with 3 friends. You’d have to buy 100’s of CD’s to get the artists that kind of cash.
God save the Oink.
Warner Music boss Edgar Bronfman: “We used to fool ourselves,” he said. “We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won.”