August 1st, 2007
A Whole Lotta Good Those Lawsuits Did, Eh?
So yeah. It’s official. All the legal bullshit and alienating of customers has done absolutely nothing to offset file sharing. In fact it’s more prevalent than ever. I will say it again to the labels out there in case nobody heard me the first seven thousand times I said this:
a. CD’s are a license to pirate. Stop making them, except for top 40 soccer-mom and senior-citizen stuff that sells at big box stores. Just because they’re 80% of sales doesn’t mean they’re 80% of the music transactions that go on.
b. Make vinyl and collectibles for those of us who like to touch, read, and collect. That stuff (and used CD’s) keep the remaining indie mom and pop stores in biz anywayc. Fuck DRM and create a central repository where all music is available at all times through ISP’s, where every broadband user pays a “media fee” for unlimited consumption.
d. Stop paying seven figure salaries to the bloated fucks who got you here in the first place and penalize them for their lack of vision by never giving them another job again.
e. If journalists don’t want anything but a CD becase that’s all they consider “legitimate” product then take them off your list. Nobody besides the late majority reads SPIN anyway.
f. Your sales and production teams need to get with the digital age or be replaced by programmers and designers who can create innovative new digital and physical products. People won’t steal what they can’t make themselves…
Anyone have any more to add? This should be fun, fun, fun….
Written by Bill Wilson
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On August 1st, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Ben said:
“C” is a great idea. Our school started to do that with some program, but it was all DRMed up so you had to TuneBite it if you wanted to keep it around anyways.
On August 1st, 2007 at 9:26 pm
xcococo said:
“c. Fuck DRM and create a central repository where all music is available at all times through ISP’s, where every broadband user pays a “media fee” for unlimited consumption.”
Exactly how I feel. I would be OK with a similar system for sampling/covering.
On August 2nd, 2007 at 10:22 am
Frank said:
“a. CD’s are a license to pirate. Stop making them, except for top 40 soccer-mom and senior-citizen stuff that sells at big box stores. Just because they’re 80% of sales doesn’t mean they’re 80% of the music transactions that go on.”
explain this? I guess if you don’t have a computer with fast enough speed and you don’t have a turntable you aren’t allowed to listen to music anymore?
On August 2nd, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Bill Wilson said:
Frank,
If a specific demographic (i.e. emo kids) consumes more digital music than they do CD’s- stop making them or limit pressings to start. Look at what happened to the cassette…..
On August 2nd, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Frank said:
So as a 33 year old male who still likes Alakline Trio, Bad Religion and Dillinger Escape Plan I am punished because of kids who probably wouldn’t have purchased the music anyways, are stealing said music over the internet? These kids aren’t consumers, they are takers. Most of these kids have no value for music, so buying it would never be an option anyways.
On August 2nd, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Bill Wilson said:
The market place is what it is. I didn’t make it that way. If you can see another solution, I’d love to hear it.
When 8 tracks went out of vogue, everyone moved to cassettes or LP’s. When the LP went to CD… everyone kicked and screamed as well. Will labels actually do this in one massive purge of the market? No. It will be a gradual process over a few years.
Also I agree music has less value. Which is why you monetize it at the source via choice “c”. If people are already paying $2 to $5 a month to download all the crap they want from a high-quality repository, why would they steal it? It takes the eMusic model and expands it.
On August 3rd, 2007 at 7:40 am
Brad Holland said:
Is $2 - $5 per month really enough to satisfy (or even sustain) anyone? If that were the case, it seems like everyone would take advantage, not just the kids who illegally download stuff.
I like art and layout and a physical copy on a shelf just as much as anyone, but if I could pay $5 (Hell, even $10) per month, to get an unlimited supply of music, then the size of my physical music collection would surely stall.
Therefore, you would have people paying 2-5 bucks for unlimited tunes rather than the 10-14 bucks per album that they do now. People complain now that the margins are already too tight; what happens when there’s only a few bucks a month to go around?
On August 3rd, 2007 at 7:49 am
Bill Wilson said:
I haven’t worked out the numbers all the way, but if ALL broadband subscribers paid a reasonable fee ($2, $5, $10? ) that amounts to billions of dollars in a music economy where there was a vacuum. Sell far more at far less of a price. Margins are the business’ problem… not the consumers. They have spoken and they want it for free (because they can already get it that way.) Legal action doesn’t work. Nobody really wants a new physical format besides the industry… so where does that leave us?
My point is.. you have a scant few paying $10- $14 a CD, or you get everyone paying the equivalent of a used CD per month for all they can eat.
Perhaps there’s even digital packaging that could be wrapped up into it. (ala tunebooks.com)
On August 7th, 2007 at 3:32 am
Dan said:
I would suggest to my artists and push their labels to keep their analog pressings of whichever format down to the smallest number they feel comfortable with, and then cut 1k off that number…it’s fucking absurd these days how you have to shit your pants over how many returns you will have, reserves calculated in the contract, and the like…yes, it is difficult to ship only a few thousand copies effectively, but hell, the risk is that much lower with less records with potential to gather dust. hardcore fans who want physical product will find it and buy it religiously. the casual buyer is dying or dead. they Oink that shit or buy from a digital retailer.
On August 7th, 2007 at 6:08 am
Drew Robertson said:
If the “product” is a 3-4 minute hit single there is very little that can be done to prevent trading/piracy….it’s just ot easy to move around on the net. OTOH the product could be redefined as a multimedia album with a dozen new songs, music videos, concert clips, pics, interviews and other assorted digital merch. If the product is 2Gb vs. 6 Mb it lends itself to physical distribution or at least paid download services…and it’s somewhat harder on Limewire et al. The artist gets to deliver a total package to his fanbase that builds brand loyalty (and hopefully concert sales). Unless the industry fills up all those harddrives and 40Gb Ipods with their won product, the kids will do it themselves with traded product.
On August 7th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
hed028 said:
Option C will only happen with government involvement (so it won’t happen any time soon.) The problem isn’t on the label side (I think labels could agree on this).. its the publishing side. statutory mechanicals don’t allow for all you can eat models that include permanent downloading. for this to happen…
1. Have to change of the law on mechanicals. (Publishers will fight this to the bitter end)
2. implement a tax on all ISPs (just like the misc. taxes on your phone bill)
3. Track everything and pay accordingly. This should be the easy part as there are companies already doing this. Of course, this too, would need to be regulated by the gov’t.
The problem with this solution, although it is the best one… is the reliance on the Gov’t to make the change.
On August 7th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Bill Wilson said:
I agree that Harry Fox and the publishers will be the biggest issue, (and mentioned that in a comment on Fred Wilson from Union Square Ventures’ blog a few mos ago.) However, I don’t think that switching to percentage rate in the next few years will be out of the question. If revenue is down or changing model for labels, mechanicals gotta give.
I’m not sure the government needs to get involved. Although I sound like a Republican, I think the market in this particular case will correct itself without any assistance. There is an overwhelming consumer demand for “free” music that the industry can and should deal with on it’s own. Could the BBC model work? Maybe… but then will the FCC want to control what the money pays for? I love my satanic, atheistic, left wing propaganda rock and don’t want some 700 Club member influencing my choices.
For the sake of the industry and the consumer… the governing bodies within the business need to come to their senses. Government will just fuck it ALL up.
On August 8th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
hed028 said:
I can’t imagine publishers waiving their statuatory rate on mechanicals across the board. They will fight to hold on to that. Only gov’t intervention will make them change. Or perhaps the complete collapse of physical sales.. and I mean complete collapse. The industry will have to completely implode before they change their model.
I understand they have the option of being forward thinking about the future, and that if done right, there would potentially be more money in everyone’s pockets. but since when has a whole segment of the music industry (in this case publishers) been forward thinking?
On August 8th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Bill Wilson said:
I’m not saying waiving rights… songwriters need to have a stake in the new music economy. But the penny rate statutory mechanical doesn’t work in an era of shaved pennies. A percentage model does.
I should see if a member of HFA or a major publisher would be willing to answer this on record.
On August 8th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Karl said:
“The industry will have to completely implode before they change their model.”
Well, it does seem we are already well into Phase One - turn the music industry into a giant black hole…
On August 9th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
hed028 said:
I agree with you Bill. I just don’t think publishers will agree to a percentage model….. until the Government changes the law and forces them too. Or, when sales completely collapse. I’d love to hear feedback from publishers.