Here's the Skinny, fatty (and pass the Fatty, skinny)
Reading a couple articles tonight got the old brain going on an issue that seems to plague the internet like a flu with no vaccination... It's the P2P problem, there are companies popping up just to track what is considered infringement, retired folks trading songs, and the music industry suing a 12 year old boy... And all because they can't see the forest for the trees.
In the 80's, Atari, a household name loved by millions almost seemed to fight against the motto, "Innovate or Die". They allowed anyone to release games, but didn't give people any reason to sick with what they were offering. Yes, I know, the new Atari, bla bla bla, but the essence of the matter is that they just didn't get the point quickly enough. Now the music industry is about to suffer the same fate if they don't get the message pretty soon. Personally, I stopped using P2P years ago, too many virus / spyware / scamware problems for me to spend my time on when there was so much else to learn, but sharing music is now a way of life and needs to be addressed in a little more constructive manner.
See, the last album I bought (and recently this is) was a Weird Al CD. I didn't buy it because I couldn't possibly find the songs online, but instead because Al did something I've been seeing pop up in a few remote corners of the music industry. He innovated... He included photo's, videos, and more on that disc, and to me, that makes all the difference. When CD's first came out, I was recording music from the radio onto tape (for those of you who don't know what a tape is, please find an elder and ask them about these almost forgotten consumer products). I was getting all the music I like for free anyway, but CD's brought a new level of entertainment to the mix. Smaller size, no possibility of having to rewind by finger, and much better clarity on albums. I liken this to today, in so much as CD's no longer are the media event they once were. Now you can get that same level of quality off the internet, and we're back to listening to the DJ, hoping to release the pause button in time to capture the right song, with only a modicum of difference in the way you wait for the DJ.
But getting back to Al, he, like some other bands I love have decided that it's time to revive the industry again instead of just making a federal case of the whole thing (although I'm sure he's probably in the RIAA side of the ring, but that's not the point). He gave me some reason to buy the disc... Made it worth my while to search out the stuff in an old fashion store, instead of firing up torrent downloading software or Kazza or some such. That's where this needs to go. To the artists who are just putting music on DVD, well, maybe that's a little like Photo-Albums (you know, where their was art printed on the vinyl, again, see elder for info), but to the artist who is putting on a concert on that DVD, there is innovation working slowly to take away the file sharing system.
So to the RIAA, and the Artists who aren't willing to move out of the 80's and 90's, I say I may buy your stuff because I've got other things to do (and even that's unlikely since I discovered podcasting), but the rest of the world isn't, and that trend isn't likely to slow anytime soon. And to the people who are working on making the content more than just the music, well, thank you for putting art back into Artist, let me open the wallet...
Ta
In the 80's, Atari, a household name loved by millions almost seemed to fight against the motto, "Innovate or Die". They allowed anyone to release games, but didn't give people any reason to sick with what they were offering. Yes, I know, the new Atari, bla bla bla, but the essence of the matter is that they just didn't get the point quickly enough. Now the music industry is about to suffer the same fate if they don't get the message pretty soon. Personally, I stopped using P2P years ago, too many virus / spyware / scamware problems for me to spend my time on when there was so much else to learn, but sharing music is now a way of life and needs to be addressed in a little more constructive manner.
See, the last album I bought (and recently this is) was a Weird Al CD. I didn't buy it because I couldn't possibly find the songs online, but instead because Al did something I've been seeing pop up in a few remote corners of the music industry. He innovated... He included photo's, videos, and more on that disc, and to me, that makes all the difference. When CD's first came out, I was recording music from the radio onto tape (for those of you who don't know what a tape is, please find an elder and ask them about these almost forgotten consumer products). I was getting all the music I like for free anyway, but CD's brought a new level of entertainment to the mix. Smaller size, no possibility of having to rewind by finger, and much better clarity on albums. I liken this to today, in so much as CD's no longer are the media event they once were. Now you can get that same level of quality off the internet, and we're back to listening to the DJ, hoping to release the pause button in time to capture the right song, with only a modicum of difference in the way you wait for the DJ.
But getting back to Al, he, like some other bands I love have decided that it's time to revive the industry again instead of just making a federal case of the whole thing (although I'm sure he's probably in the RIAA side of the ring, but that's not the point). He gave me some reason to buy the disc... Made it worth my while to search out the stuff in an old fashion store, instead of firing up torrent downloading software or Kazza or some such. That's where this needs to go. To the artists who are just putting music on DVD, well, maybe that's a little like Photo-Albums (you know, where their was art printed on the vinyl, again, see elder for info), but to the artist who is putting on a concert on that DVD, there is innovation working slowly to take away the file sharing system.
So to the RIAA, and the Artists who aren't willing to move out of the 80's and 90's, I say I may buy your stuff because I've got other things to do (and even that's unlikely since I discovered podcasting), but the rest of the world isn't, and that trend isn't likely to slow anytime soon. And to the people who are working on making the content more than just the music, well, thank you for putting art back into Artist, let me open the wallet...
Ta
posted by RP Woods at 12:45 AM
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