What Will The Recording Industry Be Blaming For All Their Problems A Decade From Now?

Predictions

from the or-will-they-not-have-problems? dept

Wed, Dec 23rd 2009 9:54am — Mike Masnick

At the very end of an NPR story about the decade since Napster there's an amusing quote from Eric Garland of online music tracking firm Big Champagne, where he says:

A decade from now, executives may be longing for the days--when they could blame piracy for all of their problems.

Indeed. "Piracy" makes for an easy -- if totally incorrect -- scapegoat. The reality is far different. As we've seen over and over again, those who learn to properly use file sharing to their advantage don't see any "problems" from file "piracy," but actually see it as a huge opportunity. That, alone, makes it clear that piracy has never been the problem, only a failure to adapt. And yet, as we've noted repeatedly, the industry itself is actually thriving. So that raises a separate question. A decade from now, what will industry execs be blaming their problems on? Or, will the old "blame game" execs have moved on, and we'll be in a new industry that doesn't even think of the challenges it faces as problems, but as opportunities?

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Filed Under: blame, piracy, recording industry

36 Comments

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Brian (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 9:46am

Well they haven't changed their tune in over 100 years so whats 10 more years going to change.
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justthisguy, 23 Dec 2009 @ 10:02am

blame
They will be blaming direct beaming of information into peoples heads, it's killing the music industry!!

j/k
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Aj, 23 Dec 2009 @ 10:07am

They won't even exist.....
More and more musicians are going to a direct online distibution model. These labels keep pissing off their fans and chasing away their talent, there wont be anyone to blame because they wont exist......
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Scribe, 23 Dec 2009 @ 10:08am

I still blame Gutenberg
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Esahc (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 10:21am

Re:
+1
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 10:24am

That's easy
Ninjas
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Beefcake (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 10:27am

Same Thing
They'll still be blaming piracy in ten years because they're too ignorant or lazy to come up with a new and relevant blaming model.
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ECA (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 10:31am

Lets see...
these folks Running the companies KNOW what they dont know.

They DONT KNOW TECH.
They DONT know whats out there.
They dont know HOW it works. They hire it out.
They dont know HOW a dubbing studio/sound stage works or ANYTHING ELSE..

So, trying to get them to change over is a pain.
They learned a few lessons from the past.
1. Quad dont wont if the customer AINT GOT IT.
2. 8 track?
3. BETA?

The STANDARD goes like this.
STEREO works on every format.
Stereo is cheap and easy.
Stereo is PORTABLE.
2 ears STEREO

CHEAPEST, Format of media we can USE, PERIOD.
A MEDIA FORMAT that will last more then 3 seconds. WE DONT like changing formats.
They WANT a format that YOU CANT COPY.

What they dont SEE/REALIZE..
1. you dont need a MEDIA anymore, WE have it and can MAKE our own.
2. PROTECTION hurts them and costs them TONS of money.
3. FORMATS, USE a GOOD original FLACC/RAW, and we can convert it to ANY that we have/need/want..
4. Just MAKE it available at a reasonable PRICE and we will FLOCK to your doors.
5. MAKE all your STOCK available...the NEW, OLD, ALL OF IT..
you will have BUYERS.
6. STOCK isnt a problem with DIGITAL formats..At this time you could convert ALL of it and store it in 1 small building. 1 small store could have access to EVERY album/artist/recording/.. out there WORLD WIDE..
You dont NEED to send ORIGINAL material out to stores in TRUCKS... hook up to the net and send it to EVERY LOCATION in 1 day. THEY, at the locations, can make TONS of copies for customers, and only need 1 VIRTUAL copy.

This goes for movies ALSO.

DROP the protections, the lawyers, the shipping, the COVER ART and you have SAVED 2/3 of the cost of the recording..SHOW it to the customer. DROp the price 2/3 and you WONT have PIRACY..
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BullJustin (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 10:41am

Re: That's easy
Pirate ghosts
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BullJustin (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 10:42am

Re:
Og and that awful rock wheel thingy
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Johnny Canada, 23 Dec 2009 @ 10:46am

Do not understand Technology
I keep hearing that politicians, media executives and PARENTS do not understand how all this new technology works.

Well, I am older than most of the parents and about the same age as Top Media Exec’s and Politicians (age 51).

Where have these people of power been all their lives, there should be some type of ‘real world test’ before

1- Become Parents
2- Run a large company
3- Run for office.

Until then we are in trouble.
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 10:47am

Re: That's easy
Or ghosts... perhaps terrorists!
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Ninja Panda, 23 Dec 2009 @ 11:09am

Re: Lets see...
Most well thought out, best idea I have ever heard regarding the recording industry...I support this message
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2009 @ 11:11am

That quote is making two big assumptions:
* The industry execs will still be around, and
* Piracy will not be.
More than likely, it's the other way round!

But I most certainly agree that piracy is just a scapegoat. The record companies are in trouble because they are riddled in debt and are actively pushing away their customers and artists.
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Shuryno, 23 Dec 2009 @ 11:13am

They won't be there anymore, so who cares?
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BdgBill (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 11:22am

Hopefully "The Recording Industry" will be dead
Soldiers in Iraq pass around big external usb hard drives containing hundreds of gigabytes of music, movies, games etc. Soldiers copy what they want off the drive, add anything they have that is not on the drive and pass it on. This gets them around the block on p2p and other file sharing on military networks.

We are pretty close to being able to put all known American music going back 60 years or so on something like and SD card. Not long after that we will be able to do the same thing with movies. In a few years, driving to a store to pay $20.00 for a piece of plastic containing 12 songs (10 of them crap) will seem novel. I do not expect to ever purchase another CD or DVD but I will happily pay for non DRM'd content as long as I get to share in the huge savings media companies realize through digital distribution of infinite goods.
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R. Miles (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 11:29am

Ooh! I know! Pick me! Pick me!
A decade from now, what will industry execs be blaming their problems on?
Why, player pianos, of course, which should be right about the time 3D holographic displays are in the market. You can bet someone's going to create a 3D holographic player piano to play Prince's "1999" in synthesized MIDI format (because everyone stopped buying mp3s due to corporate greed).

Ooh. Time to file a patent on this idea!
© R. Miles 2008. Steal my idea, and I'll RIAA your ass.
;)
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slander (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 11:29am

Re: Do not understand Technology
Er, 4-Profit?
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dostadawg, 23 Dec 2009 @ 11:35am

Re: Lets see...
Amen brother, i would also add that alot of stuff that is being put out nowadays is complete crap, music and movies. its bad enough they rehash old movies or old songs but then they make it worse than the original. really what singers out there today will stand the time like a Jackson 5, or just Michael, or the ton of classic rock from the 70s?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2009 @ 11:35am

Re: Re: Do not understand Technology
4-?????
5-Profit
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Dark Helmet (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 11:42am

Re: Re: That's easy
"Or ghosts... perhaps terrorists!"

Sigh, has all my work here to create a new internet word been for naught.

It's RAPORISTS, dammit, waving around their raporist rapiers and raping the innocent with their spurting raporgasms and all this.

But in the future? I think hari krishnas make a nice target. After all, who the fuck likes them?
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Hephaestus (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 11:59am

Re: Lets see...
"4. Just MAKE it available at a reasonable PRICE and we will FLOCK to your doors."

Contracts make the reasonable price un workable.
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Hephaestus (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 12:09pm

Re: They won't even exist.....
"These labels keep pissing off their fans and chasing away their talent, there wont be anyone to blame because they wont exist......"

I agree for the most part ... but by then the record labels will have lobbied for indentured servitude and debtors prisons on unrecouped artists. So the artist will have to work for them or go to jail ... ;)
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:), 23 Dec 2009 @ 12:17pm

Canadians of course
Blame Canada!
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Yakko Warner, 23 Dec 2009 @ 12:17pm

Re: Same Thing
I think this is probably the most likely. Haven't they been screaming "piracy" since the days of home (video and audio) tape recording machines?
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:), 23 Dec 2009 @ 12:20pm

EMI
Has EMI already gone bankrupt?

The last I heard was that Citibank was going to get though and was lining up buyers :)
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2009 @ 12:50pm

In a decade we will all have microchips implanted into our brains, with all thoughts being checked against copyright databases we will be charged on the fly for even thinking of their precious IP.
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Bob Vila, 23 Dec 2009 @ 1:11pm

Re: Re: That's easy
It's ghost pirates.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2009 @ 1:16pm

Re:
I'll just pirate a new brain. Problem solved!
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slander (profile), 23 Dec 2009 @ 1:53pm

Re: Re: Re: Do not understand Technology
Darn, missed a step.
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:), 23 Dec 2009 @ 2:24pm

Two future concepts to blame
The guy wearing a Reppo II boombox!
http://www.tuvie.com/reppo-ii-boombox-backpack-plug-and-play/

The freesbe
http://www.tuvie.com/broadcast-your-music-with-freesbe/

The Freesbe concept envisions people broadcasting their music to everyone and receiving music from others in public spaces.

"You can say that Freesbe is a Radio with a difference. It is really exciting to create your own radio network totally made by what others are listening. Its sleek black look adds to your style and you can easily hang it or keep it in your pocket."

The labels forgot to pass the memo to the concept designers :)
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:), 23 Dec 2009 @ 2:37pm

Nightmare for the entertaiment industry
http://www.tuvie.com/tribons-is-a-vision-of-future-computer-system-technology-by-frogdesign/

Pers onal projectors that can be weared by anyone and will display images and sounds anywhere LoL

Hyper connectivity with with broadband speeds everywhere, storage devices in the terabyte realm and crystal clear images and sounds.

People wont need ISPs they will be the nodes in the future carrying all that information.
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wvhillbilly (profile), 2 Jan 2010 @ 4:06pm

Re: Re: Re: That's easy
Let's give them some pirate corn. It's only a buck an ear!
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wvhillbilly (profile), 2 Jan 2010 @ 4:16pm

Re: Re: Same Thing
I tried to tell 'em a long time ago they could make a mint licensing filesharing but they wouldn't listen. I guess they'd rather sue their customers and run em all off, so they can continue to complain about those nasty old pirates stealing all their money.

Greed knows no limits.

I guess they don't believe God's law of sowing and reaping is still in effect. But it is.
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wvhillbilly (profile), 2 Jan 2010 @ 4:41pm

Re: Re: Lets see...
Another problem is the ridiculous term of copyright. There used to be a thing called public domain, which all copyrighted material entered when its copyright expired. When the term of copyright was 28 years lots of stuff went into the public domain while it was still useful. Now, with life plus 70 years being the term of copyright, and the term being extended another 20 + years every time the copyright on Mickey Mouse is about to expire, if you produce something today, your great, great grandchildren will be dead of old age before it ever enters the public domain.

Moreover, with the 1979 law recapturing and extending all copyrights about to expire, all the way back to 1917 or so, it will likely be decades before anything at all enters the public domain again. This benefits nobody but the mega-corporations which own all the copyrights and don't want anybody else getting any benefit out of anything without their getting a big chunk of money from it.

As I said before, greed knows no limits.
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wvhillbilly (profile), 2 Jan 2010 @ 4:48pm

Re: Re:
Hey! We can make a pile selling tinfoil hats!
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