Comments on: Today record labels may find digital rights management less easy to defend

By: Jeff Larche

Jeff Larche — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:06:41 +0000

Thanks for your comments, Matt.

I agree that major record labels may be missing the boat by pricing themselves out of non-pay online sources (streaming radio and podcasts). The internet is not only a great supporting medium for spreading the word about new music … it’s replacing, in many cases, traditional media such as broadcast radio and broadcast and cable TV.

And Michael: Yeah, it’s always gratifying to see an industry that’s too rigid to adapt see the premises of status quo arguments challenged by consumer behavior.

I’m wondering what will unfold with EMI, which is vowing to cut most of their non-profitable artists from their roster, in a sink-or-swim challenge. My suspicion is that a few niche artists will swim just fine — away from traditional management for good.

They’ll find profits by a more direct-to-listener business model. Thirty years ago Johnny Rotten sang to his ex-label (they had dropped his influential punk band, which was scooped up by A&M): “EMI … Good bye!” Who will be the first of this latest batch of expats to blow a raspberry and proceed to earn pots of money.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:31:24 +0000

This is a tough issue with no easy answers. I am less concerned about musicians who tour (and even less for the labels who have historically been greedy and given the artists leftover crumbs) than songwriters who don’t perform their own material and rely on royalty checks to live and continue developing their craft.

What I love about the sources quoted above is that it turns anticipated logic on its head.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:20:23 +0000

You know there s something wrong with copyright law when fans are not allowed to freely promote music they like to their friends. You also know that something is wrong with a law when millions of people violate that law constantly.

Personally, I don’t think that music sharing/stealing via the internet has had a negative impact on the music industry as a whole. The problem the record companies face is that the sales are being taken away from record company artists because they no longer control all the major pipelines that people use to discover new music. ie: more people are discovering and enjoying music from non-record label artists. The foolish reaction of the record labels to this situation (suing their customers) as well as their fear of new media avenues (music podcasts, streaming internet radio) only exacerbates their problems in the long run.

I find lots of new music by listening to streaming internet radio and music podcasts. There is no big label music on these channels because the labels won’t allow it, or they force podcasters/internet radio stations to pay ridiculously high broadcast permission fees. They fail to see these channels for what they are, FREE PROMOTION.