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Truth be told, I did download a few digital-music files here and there during Napster's heyday in the late 1990s. (Personal note to the RIAA: They've all since been deleted. I swear on my pet rock.) But I paid for most of the rest of my collection, down to the last penny. I bet you can say the same for the majority of the music-listening public.
So it was with a mix of amusement and disappointment that I read about the recent get-together for music industry executives, where the folks invited as talking heads took turns bashing Apple CEO Steve Jobs and offering pale prescriptions about how to fix what ails their business.
I don't want to get into an argument about which generation created the best music. Personally, I'm partial to jazz and classical, though I can't deny that I dig a lot of hip-hop. But is it possible--or even likely--that the falloff in music sales has more to do more with the quality of contemporary music than with digital piracy? We obviously have an enormous appetite for schlock, but there are limits.
With all due respect to the high-quality bands working for a living, the studios have always chosen the easy out by shoving numbingly formulaic, bad music down the public's throat. For most of the postwar era, that was the way things worked. Then came the Internet, which ushered in the revenge of the music buyer.
The studios shouldn't be surprised at what happened. Throughout their history, they routinely targeted Top 40 titles at teenagers and early twentysomethings. The irony is that these folks make up the demographic most likely to pirate music.
Instead of threatening to sue their own (potential) customers, why don't they do more to monetize the growing demand for oldies and indie music? Fans clearly are willing to pay it. What's so hard about finding a way to make that work? With a little creativity, the studios could find ways to better promote musicians who cater to these--and other--demographic categories, in which digital piracy isn't the fashion. All the consumer wants in return is a fair value.
Instead, the industry's best and brightest continue to look elsewhere.
For instance, they insist on clinging to digital right management as if it were a lifeboat. Pardon the cliche, but that ship has sailed. The endless wrangling over Jobs' call to get rid of DRM is so irrelevant. Same goes for their tired refrains, blaming the likes of you and me for their plight.
To wit: Ted Cohen, who directs music consulting for Tag Strategic, says the solution is "to get money flowing from consumers and get them used to paying for music again."
Really? It's not as if we haven't been paying all along. With all the high-powered MBAs in their employ, it's hard to fathom why the music industry can't move beyond finger-pointing and develop a more creative approach. I can understand the angst expressed by Cohen and his music industry cohorts about the future, but squeezing music fans for a few more shekels isn't the answer.
These folks are still shell-shocked from the Napsterization of their business, which has suffered a 23 percent decline in worldwide sales the last six years. Blaming peer-to-peer technology has become the convenient undertaking of our times. But it's useful to recall that people didn't stop buying books or maps when the Xerox machine hit. Customers will pay for worthwhile products, even if they can get free lower-quality copies.
There's a better reason to explain what's gone wrong. It's the product, stupid.
Then again, maybe I'm simply showing my age.
Biography
Charles Cooper is CNET News.com's executive editor of commentary.
See more CNET content tagged:
digital piracy, studio, Steve Jobs, digital-rights management, music
137 comments
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I printed out the "Rolling Stone Magazine 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list, and buy older stuff on CD.
Hip-hop can be criticized for many reasons, but mostly, it's just an uncreative bore.
creativity is the fault of hip-hop. It's the fault of the record
labels themselves and their never-ending stream of crap music.
Hilary & Haley Duff, Paris Hilton, Nelly Furtado, Jesse McCartney,
Britney Spears, Pussycat Dolls, Take That, T.a.t.u., Atomic Kitten,
Il Divo, Patrizio, Vittorio Grigolo and on and on and on. All of
them couldn't write a song to save their lives and are propped
up on a moutain of producers, writers, stylists, choreographers,
directors and handlers to look like musicians when they are in
fact just a branded product no different than Dove soap or
Depends undergarments. They run these no talent "musicians"
through the public view and see if any of them generate sales,
which with the talent hidden behind them they generally do.
The problem is that fans of real music and musicians gets so
disheartened by having to weed through this barrage of subpar
crap that they start to tune out and then the industry loses
another buyer.
If I wanted to buy a bunch of tools I'd go to a hardware store not
the music shop. How sad is it that almost all the stuff I by is
from indie labels or artists who've been around for decades?
Where's the next Frank Sinatra? Why am I digging through indie
music for the next David Bowie instead of hearing about him
from the big labels? How is it that I knew Norah Jones was going
to be a hit before her label did? Why do half the musicians in
music today not know how to play music themselves?
I'm with the writer on this one.
"It's the product, stupid."
As for DVDs, Most of the DVDs I want to watch are not region 1. I have a multi region DVD player, however it won't work for Blue-Ray.
Stop trying to dictate what we like and don't like. Kill off DRM, sell us the music and movies we want, then we will start paying for your stuff again.
price of download should be cheaper than price of CD), and I'll start
buying again too. But I'm not holding my breath. I've been waiting
for about 4 years. And looks like I'll be waiting for at least that
many again.
And
Quit trying to dictate how I can listen to it or watch it.
End DRM and quit calling every consumer a cheater and a liar when we live normal lives and pay our hard-earned money to you while you live in a mansion in Beverly Hills and are financially secure. We (normal people) have other things to worry about in our lives than your pathetic whining about you making only 1.3 million a year rather than 2 million. We have no sympathy for you and your bottom-line statistics problem. Quit acting like we owe you something, like you're above us. Like you know what we "need." You are obviously detached from your consumers and we're detached from you, finally.
I buy a LOT of CD\VDs, just not those deliberately made faulty by DRM or other copy protection, because I only intend to pay once for what I buy. When I can't, I turn to the Net. And our name is legion...
When they stop trying to control what and how and instead resond to customers usefully, they'll find their industry flourish.
Lest you think I'm just talking about the music labels, I should mention that movie directors bristle at the thought that someone might use a TV Guardian to control the audio or a ClearPlay player to control the audio and video of a movie to make it palatable to a family's mores. Labeling music and movies with a rating helps one choose what is -- or might be -- acceptable, but often that leads to removing just enough objectionable content to get a lower rating to get past those pesky parents.
If the media types would stop trying to choke us with filth and mundane, formulaic dribble, they mind find consumers more inclined to purchase. Instead, it seems as if they simply want to gnash their teeth at their woeful state while trying to convince us that we are at fault rather than they.
But neither is coded antisemitism the answer. I'm sure this was an
accidental slip of the pen, but nonetheless a blotch on an otherwise
excellent opinion piece. Please let's not imagine record industry
executives as rapacious moneylenders.
Please stay focused on the discussion topic.
Thanks for your comment. As for your suggested that my use of the term "shekel" was coded anti-semitism, well, I think my Rabbi would be very suprised as well. Needless to say, you're reading way too much into this.
Regards
What the hell is your point?
Both are equally bad. All of this politically correctness is killing expression in any form. People can find something offensive in almost anything spoken or written these days (or hell even our gestures and body language is over scrutinized.)
I can?t wait for everyone to finally get on the politically correct bandwagon so our books, movies, magazines, and even our day-to-day speech is colorless and drab.
Everyone can cry about being the victim; how about we just take a deep breath and get over it without having to post this dribble about being offended.
As to coding, it's like the feminist I heard giving a speech that was against certain prison terms because she was confusing a latin derivitive with male anatomy. Sorry, but it doesn't hold water.
Why isn't the Country and Bluegrass music sales seeing a similar drop in sales? Because they are still producing a product for their entire audience.
While I don't care for country music, it seems more oriented to the existing market. When the "Stones" release a new album, it does great!
It is time the music Industry finally get their collective head out of their Colon, and look at what's really happening. The "boomers" are still the largest single buying group out their, and the Music industry has deserted them....The one good thing is all my favorites are on "Greatest Hits" CDs now...No more buying an album for one or two good songs Ü
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/music/view/" target="_newWindow">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/music/view/</a>
can buy the CD. Buy DRM music, $0.99 a song. You buy a CD,
$9.99. Of course the RIAA want to keep the DRM
interesting. I purchased 31 CDs in the past year. Of those, all but
7 were either indie or self produced and promoted. This wasn't
by design, I'm not on an anti-label kick. Its simply because I've
been finding my music outside of the mainstream. I don't listen
broadcast radio and I don't shop at the local big box store. At
least when it comes to my wife and me, the labels have largely
stopped producing what I want to listen to. And as you note,
that indeed could be their problem.
Josh Chandler
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.techoriphic.com" target="_newWindow">http://www.techoriphic.com</a>
The result is that I will no longer buy DVDs.
The industry IS facing a market correction. And like every other industry that is forced to look into the abyss, they will ultimately have to accept responsibility for the fate which they carved for themselves. The existential music industry dilemma...the abyss is staring back at them and all they can do is scream.
I know buys music anymore. Downloading for free just can't be
beat by anything and it doesn't matter how good the song is.
The CD is almost dead. MP3's (or whatever digitally compressed
format) has almost completely taken over. And that just makes it
too simple to "share" with everybody.
And what is all this about indie artists benifiting from free
music? Are they crazy? Whoever started that myth sure didn't
know what the heck they were talking about! It is still an indie
artist's dream to eventually be signed by a major. But a major
want a piece of everything that the indie artist makes in order to
sign them up. They want a cut from live shows, a cut from song
writers royalties, they want to own the band's name, the internet
site, and the list goes on and on.
I don't know what the music industry is going to do, but believe
me, "better" music is not going to solve anything. There will
probably never be sales like those of the 80's and 90's. Back
then, the top sellers were in the 10 - 15 million copies sold! And
it was common place for an artist to sell 1 - 8 million. Now, 1
million copies is considered to be almost an aboration of nature!
And check this out. If you were an indie artist back then, it was
possible to release a CD, sell 10 - 50 thousand copies and make
a very good living. Now, an indie artist is lucky to sell 5
thousand with a decent hit record. Hardly a decent living.
Until the industry figures out how to stop the illegal copying and
downloading of music (probably never), or they figure out how
to make money again from selling music (more likely, but still
far-fetched), the music the public gets exposed to isn't going to
get better. It's going to get worse because it's still a business
and the lack of $$$ only makes it harder for everyone to make a
living.
does not mean that its the norm. As Steve Jobs pointed out,
most of the music on an iPod is from other sources, usually CDs.
Most of us are happy to buy the music we want. Big note, the
music WE WANT. While I listen to radio sometimes, I like to
make notes of songs that I like so I can buy them later. If the
artist has a bunch of songs, I will look at buying the CD. If its
only one or two, I just go online and get those. My time is
valuable. If I were a broke teenager with nothing but time, I
might be willing to spend a day or two per song trying to "steal"
that song, but for me and many others, its the other way
around.
Hey, iTunes works, two billion songs and counting
( 2,000,000,000+ ) it must be doing something right. :-)
PS, I do know a couple of teenagers that have hundreds of songs
on their machines that the have gotten on the side. THe funny
thing is that they don't listen to them. Its like a badge of honor,
"HEY, I have 4,000 songs by unknown artists". "Do you listen to
them?" I asked. "HELL NO. I am too busy getting more and
more." Me, I just drop in my playlist onto an mp3 player, put
on the head phones and enjoy MY music. Plain, simple, and
nice.
Later,
N.
Major label sales have plummeted, that's true, but it does not apply to independent record labels. On top of that eMusic is the second largest online music retailer, offering mostly independent, and DRM free music. Honestly, where did you get this information?
Anecdotal evidence doesn't work either way.
As for CD sales, recording labels take such a massive amount of the profit from each sale that it doesn't really matter.
Most artists make their living off of concerts and performances, not CD's. By a wide margin.
There have been more and more methods recently for indie artists to sell their music online, such as emusic and amie st., but these still won't really get you very far most likely compared to being availibile on iTunes. Indie artists need their own outlet that can compete on the same level as iTunes, but DRM-free and fair to the artists AND consumers...
Though this unfortunately is calling for the consumer/sheep mass to get their heads out of their ***** and stop buying into the RIAA and iTunes. And do I ever think that'll happen? Not really.
For a sneek peak at this development, you can go to www.lambcast.com and click on the "LAMbCase" area (now in private beta). IT is set to be released this spring.
I will promise you my friend, LAMbCase will present the solution everyone is looking for and your indie project will have a 500% tech advantage over anything that is currently even being thought about!
:)
Regards,
Will
Owner
LAMbCast LTD.
Just how many swear words can you get in a song.
Shortly afterwards the CD came out and as soon as the stereo components were affordable I bought one. At the time I also told my friends I wouldn't install a player in my car until I could make my own CD.
I'm happy to say I stood by that promise and saved myself hundreds of dollars, yet I didn't have CD quality music in my car as a result for many years. For a while I bought CD's and recorded them onto tape, but then I got married and the time to make copies evaporated and I stopped buying them.
Sometime later I did get a CD player in my car and I played my own CD's in it just as I had promised. I even bought my son a CD MP3 player for his car. I told him it was better than a CD changer since you can get more on a single disk. I also started buying more music since I could now rip it and take it with me without endangering my original copy. My CD's became disposable since if one failed or was damaged I still had the original and a ripped copy ready to burn another CD in 10 minutes at home.
Enter DRM and the freedom I have disappears as does my purchasing habits. For the past 40 years I've been able to copy music in one way or another to listen to in different places and with DRM the RIAA is wanting to take that away. First they say ripping a track is illegal, then they backtrack a half step and say they'll let you do it. Nothing in writing, so they can change their mind later. Second they want to restrict over the air copying of music. They say because it's digital, but it's really just so they can charge you again for the DRMed CD, and for the DRMed download. Lastly the MPAA is following suit and while TV show downloads may seem cool now it's only a matter of time before that organization wants to ban over the air recordings as well so that you have to pay when you miss the original aired broadcast or you pay your cable company to not send the HDCP block to your house so you can use your TiVo.
We're entering an era of nickel and diming hitting us from every direction and until some sort of consumer rights legislation or ruling happens we'll be paying for everything piecemeal.
You're right. The industry is trying to take it all away. Despite the fact that every piece of blank media carries a tax to PAY THEM for your right to copy.
But have no fear, the interactivity will come back... just as soon as they have us all paying per listen. Then you will see an explosion of ways to use your music! lol
These stores selections have always sucked. I have been TRYING to buy CD's for the last 8 years, and have only managed four:
Three greatest hits albums from older groups I was surprised to find, and a newer (early 2000's) rock group that quickly vanished. Why am I limited to today's crap? It REALLY sucks. I'm not a depressed, suicidal teen. I'm a happy, energetic man that enjoys life and fast metal. Apparently the music industry does not want to sell to me. Why should I worry about them?
Sure they have roaring vocals but that stuff was present in the
80's a la Death.
I really miss systematic though. They rocked.
I just saw Trivium on Headbanger's Ball - (I know it's trite). They
are really good too.
Happy Hunting.
These stores selections have always sucked. I have been TRYING to buy CD's for the last 8 years, and have only managed four:
Three greatest hits albums from older groups I was surprised to find, and a newer (early 2000's) rock group that quickly vanished. Why am I limited to today's crap? It REALLY sucks. I'm not a depressed, suicidal teen. I'm a happy, energetic man that enjoys life and fast metal. Apparently the music industry does not want to sell to me. Why should I worry about them?
Incentives like a trade in/up price, because how many times do consumers have to pay over inflated prices, again and again, in order to be able to listen too their music collections in latest/best format?
Incentive like tangible quality in the product, because the last time I saw great album art was? on an album!
Digital signifies the last time I have to pay some mismanaging millionaire like Dave Geffen, again!
AK
Well if you can make a digital replica using your PC and play that disc in the same places, what incentive does the user have to go and buy a second copy of that classic album? Zero.
And let's talk about classic music. How many of today's songs do you think will still be played on the radio and being purchased 20 years from now? See my point?
Combine these two factors and I think you'll see where the business is hemmoraging from...intellect. It doesn't have that brain power that it once had.
You have too many myopic people that think that you can grab anyone with a voice, run them into a studio, wash their vocals, plaster their pretty mug on the front of a record, and then spend millions of dollars to push that persons name and face in front of millions of people and sit back and wait for the sales. Well it ain't working that way.
Take a look at the recent American Karaoke...err Idol winner Taylor Hicks. His sales are the worst of any winner ever. Is it a coincidence that his album is also worse than even that garbage that was released by Clay Aiken?
To any music exec who may read this one day...go back to the chalkboard. The way that people use and get music is vastly different and doing things to protect antiquated methods of distribution and playback is not going to save you.
If you want to be saved, you have to make yourself relevant and right now...music labels are only relevant to acts that need marketing..in short...they don't have talent...right Britney? right Paris? right Justin? right Rap Artists?
The last time my buddy (yea he's younger) down the road at Apple and I met for a beverage and music chat, he was visually SHOCKED and SHAKEN that I'd never bought a tune from the iTunes store, that he manages. When I told him I still buy whole ALBUMS on CD I thought I'd have to change his diaper!
What do I say to the younger music fan? Hmmmm, Oh yea, "I'm NOT old and your music DOES suck!
Forget DRM. It's The Music.
None of the tunes are DRM as the label has signed deals directly with artists. A real label can do these things.
Uncooked Records think that it's the music too.
music, just as the rest of Hollywood, the media, etc. we've seen
a decline in the overall quality of content.
However, while I HATE DRM, I wanted to correct a few points the
author made. First, the 'copies' people are downloading are not
'lower quality'. Part of the problem with the DRM situation is that
they are selling us lower quality music then we could just get on
a CD (or what the ripped from CD copy would be). Jobs was
totally correct that the music industry is already selling high
quality, non-DRM digital music for decades. All DRM does is
keeps me from playing that tune I just bought on my car stereo.
I'm stuck to XYZ music device. Also, what if something ever
happens to Apple 20 years from now. Like you, I've been
collecting music for decades, and I want it to still work in 20
years even if the DRM granter is gone.
This brings me to my second point though. You and I ARE
different than a good percentage of the 'young' generation.
There is a general attitude I've heard of having no problem at all
just 'grabbing what you can', with no moral sense that there is
anything possibly wrong with not paying for music. Whether this
was created BY the industry or not... I'm not here to say. Yet,
morally, there is something wrong with stealing music, period.
I'm not happy the Porsche dealer charges what they do for a
911, but I don't go take one to justify it. In this, the music
industry has a legitimate concern.
However, DRM doesn't even slow this crowd down. All they have
to do is buy 1 copy of a CD, rip, upload... and now millions can
download a BETTER copy than what I get when I buy the music
industries DRM'd copy. This is why I also have not been buying
much DRM'd music. And, since I'm older now with many life
responsibilities, I don't spend as much time at the music store.
I think THAT is the answer to their problems. They need to give
people like me who WOULD buy music, some reason to buy. I'd
LOVE to spend more money at the iTunes Music Store.... my
pocketbook is just waiting to go.... but not until DRM is gone.
Another closing point which does support your thesis of lower
quality material though, is something I heard a friend's young
adult child say to me one day. He said he didn't care about DRM
because in a year, he wouldn't be listening to the song he just
bought anyway. To him, anything he buys today is just throw-
away anyway. I'm not sure about you... but I still listen to 90% of
everything I ever bought.... I never bought 'throw-away' music.
Is this an indication of the quality of the music, or just a totally
spoiled generation?
-Steve
Sound/Image/Speech is a common good. Someone who creatively crafts it deserves a limited right to profit from what he has done (as the USA Constitution grants, for example). But not a whole industry of non creators who ride around in Porsches ripping both artists and public off.