April 26, 2004
Well finally someone has a little sense
Apparently an L.A. federal judge ruled that File-sharing software makers are not responsible for the files that are being made available or downloaded. Seeing the software packages very much like the Canadian judge saw them, like photocopy machines, or videotape recorders. Did they put Sony or RCA up on trial when they found out you could record (good lord) movies! off of tv!?
I like this little quip "Debt-ridden media conglomerates are now considering sales of their music divisions even as they begin to test paid online music services intended to compete with free file-swapping networks and turn the tide." BEGIN to test ... what in the flying hell have they been doing the past 7 or 8 years? The software and p2p community told them back in the times of Napster that they needed to get some sort of less-expensive online music system set up, because they would not be able to stop the tides of peer-to-peer, and file-sharing.
Of all companies, Apple was the first to walk up to the plate with iTunes, and it's very successful, oh-boy-oh-boy, I wonder WHY? Maybe it's because people actually don't mind paying 1$ or so for a track, or $10 for an album. And there are actually law-abiding citizens that use the internet for purchasing things.
Truthfully, in my mind what's partially hurting the music industry is the industries own perception. The idea that the total # of mp3's downloaded = total # of money lost is prepostrous. That's like saying that if pirating wasn't around, every person in a less affluent country who currently has an unlicensed version of Windows would have gone out and purchased that copy. If you don't have the money you will not buy the software / music, it's as simple as that. I would take a guess that 75% of the folks currently sharing music can't afford to buy it.
And then when you add the publics current perception of organizations like the RIAA, well then you add the people who are now downloading/sharing out of sheer spite.
The only problem with the things like iTunes is that some of the record executives are starting to mess up a good thing. There have been reports of them ALREADY starting to jack the prices in some case, going from $0.99 to $2.49! That's MORE expensive than if you were to get the entire CD!
They've long tried to claim that if people were able to pick and choose, lots of music would not be heard because they wouldn't listen to the less played tracks. WTF?!
They're trying to cram stuff we don't want down our throats, and punish people who want choice by charging more money.
Posted by: Dan at April 27, 2004 08:35 AM|
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