John Bujak scoffs at the Music Insudtry's refusal to embrace MP3's. He wonders why they try to stifle new technology when it could be the best thing that ever happened to their business.
So the music industry gave all of those file sharers out there amnesty, if they fess up, admit guilt and promise never ever ever to steal music again in any way.
What a brilliant idea.
Everyone who has ever downloaded a song should sign a sworn statement admitting guilt. That will streamline the legal process. Now you can download the form, fill it out, and be on your way!
Now to be fair to the recording industry, they do state that if you download the form, they promise never to prosecute you. Well, people, before you go signing your life away, it's probably best to consult with an attorney of some kind.
Why are they offering the public this get out of jail free card? Because they are planning on sending thousands of file-swapping, music-stealing people to jail. It doesn't matter if you shared or downloaded a thousand songs in your life time or just one. You are guilty and the recording industry is coming after everyone and anyone, mainly because according to them, their sales have been slowing since the introduction of such file sharing programs such as Napster in 1998.
But is this the best way to fix the problem? Is targeting individuals with fines starting at $750 per song the easiest way to handle the neverending transfer of mp3 files? Is charging a twelve year old girl with a crime and consequantly making her pay $2000 for a settlement the best way to get your message out?
In the early 20th century, when radio first came out, the music industry was in a hoopla over how people were able to receive their product for free over radio waves. It was going to cost them sales. However instead of attacking the radio companies, the recording industry ended up embracing them and increasing their profits. When the VCR first came out both television and movie companies were afraid that this new medium would hinder their profits and people would stop watching television or going to the movies.
Ultimately, the movie industry increased profits by offering movies for rental and licensing the movie to be bought at your local super store.
Why hasn't the recording industry attempted to embrace this wonderful new technology instead of fighting it? Sure The insdustry can say that they have tried to embrace with Apple's new pay version of Napster and with Metallica's Lars Ulrich's attempt to duplicate the Apple website.
Why are both failing?
Because Americans are cheap bastards. The majority of people are not going to pay 99 cents per song. This is the same reason most Americans are not going to pay $17.95 for a CD especially when many DVDs are coming out that are only $9.99 and offer the consumer so much more options and extras.
It seems though as technology continues to evolve and change typically the prices of the technology comes down. This has not happened with CDs. CDs have been around since the 80's and the consumer has yet to notice a tangible lowering of the price per disc. Many consumers wonder why a recording company can charge so much for a CD when it costs on average less then $0.005 per disc.
Now how can the recording industry fix this problem? I don't pretend to know all the answers, but I do pretend to know some. First they could offer more when buying a CD, many artist are including a DVD with their CD. The could lower the cost of a CD to under $10.00. They could embrace file sharing and run with it, offering the downloading of songs for a quarter.
Some pay sites will automatically erase the song after you listen to it so many times. That needs to be done away with. Perhaps the recording industry should also look at how MP3s are changing our world, many car stereos and home stereo systems can now play MP3 CDs. This allows for a greater number of songs to be recorded on a single disc. Instead of 15 songs per disc an MP3 Disc can hold well over 135 songs. If the recording industry wanted, they could embrace this technology, they could utilize the extra storage being saved on the Disc by including video, interactive trivia and other things that would entice people to purchase the CD itself.
If the recording industry thinks that by using scare tactics to stop people from file swapping will work, they are misinformed. What about the people with CD burners, how are they going to stop those people? Well obviously this dilemma is going to take some time to play itself out. But as it does the face of music will forever be changed, for the better or worse no one can yet tell.