Latest Entertainment Industry Struggles
from the put-'em-all-together dept
Figured we might as well start combining some of the articles discussing just how badly the entertainment industry keeps missing the boat. First, we have the usual dire report from the music industry saying that file sharing is killing their business. When people point out that they're not producing very much good music any more, the industry just says "yes, but that has nothing to do with it... it's all those damn kids and their music stealing." What's funny is that with all the efforts going around for people to "boycott the RIAA", if that has any effect, it looks like the industry is just going to blame the decrease in sales on file sharing. You get the feeling that the recording industry would blame the greenhouse effect on file sharing if they could get away with it. Meanwhile, Hollywood is increasing their efforts to prevent their industry from following in the music industry's footsteps. However, as expected, their attitude is just as backwards, and the end results are likely to be just as bad. The one good thing they've done, however, is realize that they needed to lower the price on legitimate DVDs to compete (something the music industry is just barely starting to experiment with). However, instead of realizing that watching movies is a social entertainment experience, and figuring out ways to enhance the live experience of watching a movie - they're trying the "education" route where they tell people "file sharing is bad!" It's the same strategy the music industry has been trying - and it simply doesn't work. Most people recognize, intuitively, that file sharing is not the same as theft and any message telling them it is, is pretty clearly seen as propaganda. Meanwhile, on the other side of the legal equation, some folks in Massachusetts have set up a site to raise money for those who are being threatened by the RIAA. If you think that these people have been treated unfairly, feel free to help them out.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
SURPRISE !
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This boggles me.
Myself and a lot of other people (including Mike) feel that this is an important topic right now.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: This boggles me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sorry, file sharing does NOT cuase the greenhouse
- The Precision Blogger
precision-blogging.blogspot.com
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Sorry, file sharing does NOT cuase the greenho
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
RIAA File Sharing
I remember watching an interview with Ringo Star in 1973 where he complained that his newest album wasn�t selling because one kid would buy it and record it for all his friends. If that were true why didn�t any songs from his album get any air time on the radio? Possibly his album sucked. Or as we used to say back then, �It sucked man.�
In the late seventies, the music industry got a clue. They produced albums that had three to five decent songs (out of twelve). Some radio stations across the country were called album rock or album stations. They played several songs from an album not just the one top hit.
Then came CD�s. The RIAA had built up a war chest and threatened to sue any company that came out with this new technology that would kill the music industry. They sued Sony and lost. Then they realized that this was a technology that would eventually kill the cassette and they embraced it since people wanted their music on disc and not tape.
The industry fell back into one hit albums and one hit wonders.
The music industry had a good run with CD�s until the late eighties when CD burners came out (before personal computers). As usual they took their war chest and threatened to sue any company that came out with a CD player that would also burn CD�s. As usual they sued Sony and lost.
Now we have file sharing. And the RIAA claims it will kill the industry. The same argument they had with cassette tapes and CD burners. My standards for buying an album (yes I�m so old I still call them albums) haven�t changed in forty years. If there are less than three decent songs, I pass. If there are four or more decent songs, I fork over the cash even if someone offers to record it for me.
Am I the only one who does this? Look at the demographics of Eminem�s fans. They are the core of the fileshares profile. Yet when he comes out with a new album, he sells millions. Why isn�t one person buying the album and sharing it with the rest of the world. Because it�s a decent album (by rap standards) and people want to pay money for it. If more musicians would do this, the RIAA could go back to building up their war chest and suing Sony.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: RIAA File Sharing
People got to liking digitally recorded music on their CDs and someone came out with a way to make cheap digital tape recordings of the music on CDs and the RIAA claimed it would kill the industry.
They yelled and screamed and waved their arms in the air and by the time they finally reached an agreement on what could and couldn't be done with DAT, Sony had snuck around and launched mini-disc recorders and then CD-recorders prices hit affordable levels and DAT ended up dying a long-drawn out death because it was no longer needed.
The RIAA did have one victory, but probably not the way they intended. Let's hope it's their last.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
America is fscked in the head about IP and propert
Hell, in Canada (not the country I live in), P2P is legal.
The mindset that copying is illegal is only prevalent in the US (although it's starting to happen in EU countries as well).
This simple fact (that the US is fscked in the head about copying music) will doom the RIAA to miserable failure while making many people's live absolutely miserable. P2P is global and the Recording Industry Artists of AMERICA is not.
My solution to the "American P2P problem" would be to make CD rentals legal in North America. Perhaps this would open the eyes of the essentially blind American public while still allowing the music industry to exist.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]