Music moguls' latest strategy: Zig then zag

In July 2001, Napster got shut down by the recording industry. Had the music moguls known how history would evolve over the next six and a half years, I wonder whether they would have tried a different tack.

I know, it's an endless bar debate. But watching the music establishment play catch-up, with its continuing series of zigs and zags, don't you just know these guys wish they had the opportunity for a do-over? Who wouldn't? But life doesn't work that way. So instead, it's been a slow (and unsatisfying) grapple with technology.

A few days before Christmas Warner Music began to pull its videos from YouTube over a licensing fees impasse. Probably not a very effective negotiating tack given that YouTube/Google needs Warner less than Warner needs YouTube/Google.

But events are moving fast. Today comes word, courtesy of the Financial Times that the four big labels plan to come up with their own destination site on the Internet. To wit:

Plans under discussion include: a partnership with Hulu, the online television and film joint venture between News Corp and NBC Universal; the creation of a premium service on YouTube, Google's video sharing site; or, a standalone venture between some or all of the four largest recorded music groups.

Representatives of two music companies, who would not be named, said they were in discussions with Hulu, adding that no partnership announcement was imminent but that the site appeared to be the favoured partner. "If it happens at all it will be with Hulu," one said.

Then again, they might just as easily decide to fall back in love with YouTube, pending a better deal. Or not.

One parting thought: I still contend that the recording industry would be in a lot better shape today had it not ordered its lawyers to nuke Napster at the dawn of the digital music file swapping. Of course, we'll never really know. To be continued.

[BillDemp]

Nobody will lose a moment of sleep when the RIAA member companies are gone. You can't treat your paying customers like they are your enemy for a decade and expect to survive.

[toosday]

Nope, no one will lose sleep. But they (unfortunately) can expect to survive after beating upon their paying customers. Why? Because very few people in average households actually know what the RIAA is. Anonymity by anagram :)

[tm_anon]

agreed

[G|Net]

"I still contend that the recording industry would be in a lot better shape today had it not ordered its lawyers to nuke Napster"

You said that in the article twice, yet failed to explain why. I kept waiting for it in the article, but alas, it wasn't there.

Do you think the industry should never have responded to the rampant file sharing, which was growing every day as CD sales declined? If so, how would they be better off today?

If you meant to imply that they should've responded by lowering CD prices in the first place, well, that's a given, and I would agree. But you never did say.

[bdaleypsu]

My guess would be that he meant the music industry should have gotten behind digital downloads from the beginning, instead of fighting them for years. They'd be in much better shape if they had.

It should have been obvious to them from the beginning that that was the way people wanted to purchase music, one track at a time. Instead of giving their customers what they wanted, they continued to force them to buy overpriced CDs loaded with filler to get one or two good tracks.

[Thomas, David]

If the music industry had embraced Napster, by playing god-father, they would've practically owned the digital download market (by proxy they do anyways except for the independents). To be quite frank, I'm glad they nuked Napster, and helped herald in the iTunes.

I never wanted my music for free, I just wanted my music. If the music industry was in control, we'd be paying a heck of a lot more dough per track than Apple charges.

[Joe Nova]

It's their own arrogance that led to their own demise. They got what they deserved.

[thewhiterabbit013]

When they nuked napster they did not kill it. It was like a Hydra they cut off a head and instead of two gowing back it was many more. Napster had grown in popularity so much it over shadowed any uprising webstes like it. When they killed it people just went to other file sharing locations. Some people were charged for heavy use of these sites and then people just limited what they downloaded. They keep trying to limit and stop file sharing but they cant. For every site they shutdown one or two more open up. With the many sites out there and bit torrent file sharing the battle will continue.

[Pete Bardo]

Just wonderin' what the RIAA exec's have been rolling in those zig-zags.

[nickh2]

"Just wonderin' what the RIAA exec's have been rolling in those zig-zags."

Drugs. Lots and lots of illegal drugs. When they stop breaking the law, so will I.

[mycbrad]

I don't have a problem with compensating people with fair wages for work. I have a problem with feeding a leviathan with more power to fuel the greed machine. I've SIGNIFICANTLY decreased the amount of money I spend on music - its just not as valuable when you realize who's really getting paid.

[Draq Wraith]

What do they call it in computer industry when hollow promises fail to materialize?
Oh yeah Vapor ware, I Nominate the big music industry site to be announced as vapor ware for this year.

RIAA thought it could get tough and money from suing it's customers and the likes of SCO tried following suit look where the latter of the two are now.
There is one thing that the MPAA and the RIAA has managed to do and that is drag the tech industry down with it due to lack of innovative thinking on their part toward a fully customizable home system that can run play and show any shows , any music at ANYTIME WE WANT, not when some aristocrat assigns it to a particular time slot.
The reason they do not want tech to thrive is because shows that suck that people watch becuase all the other shows suck more so would not be given the time of day what so ever because we control the content of what will be watched and not watched!
It is the same for Music cds a song that is good is the only reason some folks buy it but the rest of the album sucks so they are forced to pay for garbage (not the band but the crap music!) they do not want.
The Music industry is still so much like the auto industry who the heck would bail them out if they needed money?
The MPAA will soon follow!
d~W