The battle between RIAA and the ever-growing community of downloaders continues, according to Rolling Stone.
I don't use peer-to-peer software, but it has nothing to do with the RIAA. I buy music because I cannot actually download slabs of vinyl and because I believe in helping put a few bucks in the pocket of artists I like. But regardless of those facts, I think that was the RIAA is doing is absolute crap. What bothers me more, though, is that in seemingly all reports on downloading, writers neglect to mention a few issues.
First of all, in the late-1990s, when file sharing software began to surface, the major labels were too busy consolidating to worry about things like utilizing new technology for markerting purposes or even developing artists. Think about the pre-fabricated turds that hog up airwaves as of this day and ask yourself (as you probably already have), why am I paying $17 for a cd with one good song?
Rolling Stone notes that prior to the lawsuits, the RIAA ran ad campaigns on the great sin of downloading featuring Britney Spears. Doesn't that show how out of touch the recording industry is? Britney Spears is a girl with more money than sense. She possesses the incredible power of celebrity, which, at her young age, gives her the opportunity to make real contributions to the world. Despite this, she lives her life like it's an episode of Jerry Springer. Why should anyone listen to her?
And then there is Metallica, whose members whine about downloaders taking away potential earnings when the band hasn't made a good album since the 1980s and still manages to sell platinum. Again, why should anyone care? If you want to make us care enough to buy the music, show us struggling bands who need the sales in order to recoup the advance and continue with a second album.
So the men in ties go ahead and sue the parents of downloaders thinking that will solve the problem, but more people join Kazaa, Soulseek, et. al. and everyone asks why. Downloading isn't a matter of stealing music at this point. Downloading has become a form of protesting an industry who uses bully tactics to attempt to stop a system that it spawned by releasing pile after pile of overpriced shit. The record industry fucked up and now it's ordinary people, some barely teenagers, who are paying the price.
This is not to say that I am pro-downloading. The technology serves it's purpose, particularly for bands who have yet to hit the big time. Musicians reading this may agree that sites like My Space, where bands can post MP3s, have been helpful in gathering new fans. However, I believe in the tangible quality of musical releases. It isn't just the songs that make an album, it's the artwork and the lyric sheets and the limited edition inserts. This aspect is lost with downloading.
In some respects, it also seems like part of the fan/artist relationship dies with downloading. It is now too easy to get new music. By the time a band makes it into the "One To Watch" section of any music magazine, hipsters around the world have already tired of the songs and moved on to something else. Artists become played out by the time an album is released. We are now in this constant race to find what's cool before the rest of our friends find it and that makes it incredibly difficult to latch on to an artist. What happens then when you meet the artist in question months later? Do you say, "I was a really big fan of yours six months ago. I downloaded all your songs. Then I thought they were played out, so I deleted them from my hardrive?"