Geoff Holden

It’s been a while since I complained about music on here. Guess the time has come again, but this time I’ll complain about the industry.

First up, copying/downloading, etc. I can see why they have major issues with downloading music when people do it instead of buying it. But a lot of people do it to sample, to find new music (the radio is no longer useful for this, see Payola). I know there are very few CDs that I’ll buy without hearing them first, such as Dave Matthews (with or without Band), Barenaked Ladies, Counting Crows, artists that I’ve come to trust.

Next up is the copy-protection on new CDs. It’s pointless… a waste of time and money. It doesn’t prevent the music from ending up on the internet, and it only annoys people who try to rip the tracks to put onto an iPod.
I personally think that the CD copy protection is a sign of an industry that operated without the necessary foresight, and is now trying to cope with something they can’t undo. Traditionally when media formats changed, the music industry made extra money as people bought copies of albums on this new media. “…It’s gonna replace CDs soon. Guess I’ll have to buy the White Album again.” — Men In Black (1997). The industry failed to see that the successor to the CD is the MP3, and people can make their own from CDs without a degregation in quality from the transfer (the compression loss on a MP3 made yourself isn’t any worse than the one they would’ve sold you).
They don’t even call it “copy protection” anymore, too much negative connotation there, it’s Digital Rights Management now. I don’t know about anybody else, but I don’t need/want any large organizations “managing” my rights, digitally or otherwise, especially when they’d much prefer that I didn’t have any. (I really like how Napster says “you can fill and refill any compatible MP3 player” when you don’t actually get MP3 files… you get DRM’d WMAs.)

The RIAA should stop wasting their time suing 12 year olds and mass-producing crap. Maybe if they spent their time producing and promoting quality music, people would actually be willing to buy it.