Sound and fury: It's war between record labels and downloading fans

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 8-2-03 | PHIL KLOER

[Not_Who_U_Think]

Interesting speculation about the future of the industry. I didn't know the timeline and history on the CD single.

[FierceDraka]

Interesting indeed. Hell, I didn't even know that the single had been given the axe. But I'm starting to get the impression that the recording industry is run by an unholy alliance of mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers and trial lawyers.

[Timesink]

The kids of Warped make up Generation D -- for Download...

If I were this guy's editor, I'd slap him silly for submitting something as vapid and trite as this phrase.

[jocon307]

"I've always said the stupider you are in the record business, the higher you go," [music promoter Alex] Cooley continues. "I know people who run labels, and I wouldn't let 'em wash my car." ...

As Chuck Comeau, drummer for the group Simple Plan, put it backstage at Warped: "Technology will always be faster than lawyers."

Good article, thanks for posting it, it's really the best I've read on this subject. They WERE fools to stop making singles, I didn't even realize this had happened. Oh, I thought those "single" cd's were sort of silly, but you know, I wasn't a teenager at the time. I guess neither were the people working in the record industry. Teenagers like to buy silly stuff, as long as it's cheap.

What made me hate the recording business was the move to tape in the 70s-80s. Those commercial tapes were crap, you were MUCH better off buying a blank tape and making a recording yourself from records. The pre-made ones failed regularly, the media obviously wasn't as good as the ones sold blank. This is really a group that should be asking "Why do they hate us?"

We made the kid disable the uploads, I sincerely hope this lawsuit thing blows up in their face, but in these new fascist days I'm not so sure it will. But the drummer is right, technology WILL always be faster than lawyers. I guess that's why they call them ambulence "chasers".

[Timesink]

Hell, I didn't even know that the single had been given the axe.

There are still some around, just not very many. Right after the American Idol finals, they put out Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken CD singles.

But in any case, this article glosses over - hell, it IGNORES - the elephant in the living room: Most current rock and pop SUCKS. I don't just not want to pay $19 for the CD, I don't want to pay $2 for the single. I don't want the music AT ALL, not even for free. Back in the 80s when I was a teen, I didn't see a lot of kids my age going out of their way to get their hands on music from the 50s, 60s and 70s. (Yes, there were some that, but not a lot.) But today, millions upon millions of teenagers chase after 80s music online like crazy, because corporate pop and rock (and rap/hip-hop) has never been as generic and homogenous as it is today. Everyone in each genre looks the same, sounds the same, acts the same, dresses the same. (Ooh, look, another rap video where chicks are shaking their booties into fisheye lenses while the rappers - all dressed up like pimps - are drinking Courvoisier! Why didn't I think of that?!?) You have to dig deep to find anything that sounds truly fun and original.

I've gone into deep detail in other threads in the past as to why I think this is (one word: SoundScan), but until the record companies decide to start emphasizing originality over the inventory numbers SoundScan spits out every week (hint to record companies: Being #1 doesn't mean all that much when the #1 record is only selling half as many copies as the less-accurately-repored "#1 record" was twenty years ago), they're going to continue losing customers, even if they manage to completely smash all P2P activity, which of course they won't.

People, even teens, will pay for GOOD music. For subpar music, they'll only download it. If it has no value to them, they're not going to give a damn whether a record company tries to claim it does.

[Michael Barnes]

Heard on the radio today that Korn is selling their new "single" online for 99Cents from their website.

I don't particularly like Korn, but it showed me that some ofthe bands of today are starting to shrug the record industry if their big enough..

[Timesink]

Heard on the radio today that Korn is selling their new "single" online for 99Cents from their website. I don't particularly like Korn, but it showed me that some ofthe bands of today are starting to shrug the record industry if their big enough..

Not quite. Here's where you get taken if you try to buy that 99¢ song.

(Ah, Mac not supported? Well, Gnutella supports Mac! Sorry Sony, guess you don't get your 99¢ from me!)

[Jeff Chandler]

>>Most current rock and pop SUCKS<<

You got that right. Heck, even most older rock and pop sucks, but the good/suck ratio was much higher.

I can't wait for the 99 cent a song system to become available to PC users. Most of my purchases will be classical, though.

[Drammach]

Check out MP3.com.

They have a wide genre list, links to artists, and much of their music can be downloaded for free.
Like you, my musical tastes tend to be more traditional, and I like bluegrass, ethnic, classical, blues, jazz, country western, (more western than country) and even some alternative /new age sort of stuff.
You won't always find the "big" name artists, but there's still enough unknown artists with great talent, that I don't mind.
Most of the big names only put out one or two really classic musical pieces every 5 years anyway. Who needs it?

[Nick Danger]

[GraniteStateConservative]

Clay Aiken from American Idol II set records for the release of his single-- hitting platinum. He wouldn't be in such a small club if other companies produced 2-side singles.

[Tamzee]

Great article, thanks!

I stopped buying CD's when the RIAA was found guilty of price fixing... I read up on the industry at that point and found out how rotten the labels really were. They scream that the poor "artists" are being stolen from by downloaders, but the labels have been massively screwing the artists since the very beginning. Adding price fixing into that mix and I felt that the labels were simply the slimiest type of middleman stealing from both sides - the artists and customers. Now that the Internet has made that middleman completely unnecessary, I can't wait to see them disappear someday :-)

[P.O.E.]

I really just have to laugh.

The recording industry has been ripping off artists for years (early black artists especially so).

[nobdysfool]

I'm surprised that it isn't more commonly understood that the end-game for the RIAA and the Record Companies is not stopping the downloading of music, but to crush the Independent Labels, and their by-passing of the old system of distribution. Think about it. Sure, they view downloading and file-sharing as a threat, but they also are enraged by the small labels who bypass the distribution machine and go directly to the people, in person and via the Internet.

The other side of the coin is that there is so much sub-standard music out there now because it doesn't get weeded out by the distribution system, the A&R departments of the major labels, and the radio stations. It has become very easy to record, master, burn to CD, and market any old junk. The technology is cheap, readily available, and not hard to learn. It's the "dumbing down" of the music industry. No wonder the major labels are in a snit!

[Timesink]

The other side of the coin is that there is so much sub-standard music out there now because it doesn't get weeded out by the distribution system, the A&R departments of the major labels, and the radio stations. It has become very easy to record, master, burn to CD, and market any old junk. The technology is cheap, readily available, and not hard to learn. It's the "dumbing down" of the music industry. No wonder the major labels are in a snit.

This, too, is the major labels' fault. Nobody's buying the homemade CDs of garage bands and self-made "techno" artists in any measurable quantities, just like they didn't in prior decades when bad artists could get 500 records (or CDs) pressed for $1000 or so and hand them out to friends and beg local radio DJs to play them. It is precisely the distribution system, the A&R departments of the major labels, and the radio stations that are producing and promoting the substandard, dumbed-down pop/rock/rap of today. And there's only a certain number of people - almost all of them teens, of course - stupid enough to buy into it when all it takes it one flip to a station that plays any music more than seven or eight years old for them to realize that what they're being peddled today is CRAP. Ergo, sales are down, and will continue dropping.

And there isn't going to be ANY new "trend" or "sound" that's going to come along to save them. The labels' SoundScan-Über-Alles attitude insures that all new sounds are instantly crushed before anybody even hears about them; as long as the latest dull hip-hop album (that sounds exactly the same as every other hip-hop album in the last two to three years, minimum) sells more copies than the album representing the new "trend" or "sound," then the hip-hop record will get all the marketing and promotion.

The only hope for the record companies is for them to start actively seeking out and pushing truly original bands and original sounds. Most of them will fail, but so do most bands and artists following the tried-and-true-screw-you formats of today. But the ones that do succeed, consumers will actually become interested in, and will start supporting ... with real money.

Until and unless that day comes, the labels are digging their own graves. And their RIAA tactics are but a tiny piece of the reason why.

[BlessedBeGod]

Right after the American Idol finals, they put out Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken CD singles...I don't want to pay $2 for the single.

Per Amazon, the list price of Clay's and Ruben's singles is $4.49. That's WAY expensive for just 2 songs.

[Elliott Jackalope]

You are on the right track. The issue is larger than what everyone is discussing. These lawsuits are just the beginning of a long process that ends with the demise of the RIAA and the major labels.

Once upon a time recording music was very expensive and very difficult. You needed hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment and facilities to get a really good recording. Nowadays you can record a very decent album with a total budget of a few thousand dollars.

But wait, it gets much worse than that. What do you do with your shiny new album once it is recorded and you've made a few copies? How do you get it out into the hands of the general public? Once upon a time it was very difficult to do that, you needed to have a relationship with multiple distributers and retailers in order to be able to move your product. Now you just upload your song onto the Internet, and within a few moments your song is being listened to by people on the other side of the planet. Sign on with someone like CD Baby and your songs are now available on Apple's iMusic site. And anyone can sign on with CD Baby, it only takes a few bucks and you're on your way.

Hmmmm, let's see. Need for expensive recording facilities gone. Need for elaborate distribution and retail effort gone. Next step: Major labels gone. Disappeared, just like the Dodo bird.

[nobdysfool]

Hmmmm, let's see. Need for expensive recording facilities gone. Need for elaborate distribution and retail effort gone. Next step: Major labels gone. Disappeared, just like the Dodo bird.

Give that man a cigar! What we are witnessing is the death throes of the major labels, and they are not going quietly into that good night....

[FastCoyote]

Good analysis. I think the real problem is that there are no garage bands left. That is, they've overproduced the product to the point it's worthless. Plus, they cut out the singles. So, RIAA should get a clue.