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Recording industry versus downloading |
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Tuesday, 12 June 2007 |
There was a time several years ago when music listeners truly expected the controversy over illegal downloading to die down by 2005.
At that time, those in power would’ve hopefully realized that, whether downloading is an ethical practice or not, it is also an unstoppable trend and should be legalized accordingly.
Here we are in 2007, and still the Recording Industry Association of America spends thousands of dollars citing 12 year olds as criminals for sharing something as intangible and personal as music.
All criticisms of the apparent greed and capitalism of the music industry aside, this is simply bad for business.
Why would you alienate your chief music-buying public by treating them
as degenerates for listening to the same bands and artists you hope to
promote?
Of course, the Recording Industry Association of America would like you
to believe that you are hurting the artist by downloading their music.
Well, let’s take a look at the veracity of that statement for a moment.
The record industry is notorious for paying shockingly low royalties to
its talent, and in fact most writers and visual artists make more from
their respective publishers and galleries than professional musicians
do.
Especially in the case of lesser-known bands on smaller independent
labels, musicians see very little profit from the sales of their
records, and occasionally even end up in debt to the label they record
for.
Record labels also take huge chunks of their artists’ money in the form of promotion and legal fees.
While this is a necessary, and even helpful, aspect of the recording
industry, it is also more money taken from the artist’s hands and into
the pocket of the wealthy label executive.
The primary income a bands earns comes from endless touring,
merchandise sales, and also commercial licensing, and what this does is
force many bands opposed to endorsements into shilling
for say, Honda or Outback Steakhouse, in order to make enough money to survive.
This alienates fans of the band, who feel their favorite artists are “selling out” for notoriety.
In turn, as has often been argued, the publicity gained from
downloading is often beneficial to getting bands heard by new fans,
thus possibly even contributing to future album sales.
Such was the case with Baltimore hip-hop producer Danger Mouse, whose
illicit mash-up of the Beatles and rapper Jay-Z on The Grey Album led
him to a star career of producing for high-profile artists and band
membership in popular acts such as Gnarls Barkley and Gorillaz.
In all honesty, who you’re hurting by not buying albums is the record
label, which is why downloading lawsuits against the public are usually
brought about by the record companies, rather than the artists
themselves.
On the other hand, some feel that corporate entertainment chains such as FYE and Virgin Megastore
should lower astronomical prices for new CDs before they’ll begin buying albums again.
If these stores truly cared about losing money, then they could combat
downloading effectively by lowering their prices, thus restoring
customer confidence in their salesmanship and professionalism.
Finally, also notable is the fact that CD burning is entirely legal.
If downloading is seen as a crime by the government and the Recording
Industry Association of America, then is it not illogical for CD
burning to be fully endorsed by corporate America?
One could argue that if CD burning is acceptable by legal standards, then downloading should be as well.
At times one can’t help but wonder if the record labels have considered
that perhaps their sales are down not because of losing purchases to
illegal downloading, but because what they are presenting to the
record-buying public is empty, mediocre pop that refuses to push the
envelope of creative integrity whatsoever.
In any event, downloading is a truly unstoppable trend, and one that
will eventually be made legal due to the sheer inability to police such
a widespread and popular activity.
Until the record labels and record chains of America prove to their
customers that they care about their patronage and pocketbook,
downloading will continue, the labels and chains will lose yet more
money, and the winner still remains the American music fan, no matter
who else misses out in the end.
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