The RIAA Breaks Up The Brand
from the get-with-the-program dept
A great, though different, take on just how badly the RIAA has screwed up under Hilary Rosen's watch. Without getting into the ethics/legality/business models of file sharing, the writer takes a marketing view, and points out just how badly the RIAA has screwed up the music industry's brand image. As she says, one of the cardinal rules of marketing is "don't make 'em hate you." Yet, the RIAA, with every move they make, seems to make things worse, not better. This is what happens when you make short-sighted decisions. It's a case where lawyers in the RIAA are saying "this is illegal, we should stop it", and there's no one saying "wait, let's look at this from a business perspective, and figure out what it costs us to alienate all of our customers".
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And Yet...
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If only they had an easier format
And it occured to me - you know what would be REALLY handy? If someone burned all these to a CD-rom format, so I could listen to it in my Walkman, computer, & car. I'd pay $10 to save myself some time. Maybe even $15, but if it got to $20 I'd say there better be 80 minutes of music, 'cause that's how much I burn to a CD IF I can find enough music to fill one...
Seriously now. Honestly. Make a better @#$@ing product, make it easy and cheap and LOADED with extras and chances are IF its easy enough to buy, I'll friggin' do so. Meanwhile, recommend me some other artists I might like - give me a discount on them, stop jerking me around and trying to make me feel guilty about "stealing" while all of THEM drive around in gas-guzzling Lincoln Navigators and wear Armani suits... who's "stealing" from whom, I ask?
You think MY business can afford to stagnate like this? That I can try to sue customers? That I can phone up and dictate to people HOW and WHERE they'll get my services if I SO DEEM IT? The best thing we can do is keep pirating music - pass out CD's, upload files, refuse to buy - until we break them enough to get it.
Seems to me its time for some SMARTER people to challenge that industry. Who's buying?
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Re: And Yet...
That's just it, too - the RIAA is making people hate the recording industry and digging their own grave, and the strangest part is, they're full aware of it.
The problem is that someone in upper management is too stubborn... too egotistical and full of themself to admit that they've been wrong. When it comes down to it, this isnt' even a matter of money - it's that pride has become a pill that's impossible to swallow because someone's got their necktie on too tight!
Live & learn, RIAA: If you turn yourself around and embrace the benefits of P2P, you won't be percieved as the "weak" organization that capitulated to the demand of society - you'll instead be remembered as the organization that admitted a flaw and made a change for resolve in favor of renewing customer confidence and strengthing support for the musicians they represent.
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RIAA - stupid business model
There are alot of things that could be done to improve the music industry. The first and most important is to recognize that P2P in some form will not kill them, will actually improve their sales, and while there needs to be a "healthy" (as in do not attack your customers) message about anti-piracy, be realistic...
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