DRM doesn’t matter. If you can hear it, you can copy it. No matter what new media they invent, no matter what DRM they put on it. I you can hear it, you can copy it, even if no one is working on hacking the DRM. Just record it as analogue and convert it back. The more they work on DRM the more popular they make P2P networks. If it’s too hard for the average user to rip (per his fair use rights) then he will turn to the P2P networks to get his mp3’s of the album he just bought. And while he’s searching there he might find a few other things he’s like to hear.

And I think it should be obvious to the RIAA by now that no matter how much they prosecute P2P users and companies, all they are accomplishing is driving the networks a little further underground and making users harder and harder to track. The RIAA and MPAA are probably directly responsible for most of the inovation in P2P networks in recent years, especially in the area of privacy.

So they are wasting money on researching DRM, and prosecuting P2P users, and driving up the costs of CD’s and Movies to pay for it all. And they wonder why sales are declining. They can’t possibly do anything put piss off their customers if the keep doing this. Common sense says they need to either:

A.) Stop spending money on these things, so they can drop the cost of their product and see if that brings customers back.

or

B.) Spend the money on researching and developing a new buisness model that involves convenient online distribution at a reasonable price.

Personally, I refuse to purchase CD’s from major labels, because I won’t help them fund a futile war on P2P technology and research on how to restrict my fair use. I’ll wait for someone at the companies to grow a brain and get some common sense.

from my example above. Companies not being needed by musicians anymore, because eventually the internet will form a model by which music can be discovered more directly. The music companies are desparately trying to hold us back, not because they couldn’t come up with a viable business model to sell music on the internet, but because they know that going down that path will eventually cut them out of the loop entirely. Music publishers that are the kind protected by RIAA, are just the middle men of the music business, they buy the rights to a product and distribute it. And it’s a middle-man arrangment that musicians have a long history of hating. These companies are afraid of the internet because it offers an opportunity to eventually cut the middle man entirely. It doesn’t just take away their way of selling a product, it will eventually take their product away entirely. Their “product,” if given an alternative, would love to do without them, and they see that such an alternative is on it’s way. The only way they can slow that down is to hinder the innovation that is driving it. and the best way to do that? lawsuits and DRM on all the current music that is being used to build and establish that innovation. It has nothing to do with piracy. It has everything to do with them being a middle-man, that, until now, existed only because it was a necessary evil. The evil is no longer necessary, and it is afraid, therefore, it is becoming more evil.

As an artist myself, I have first hand knowledge of how the industry treats ARTISTS, and they treat their “product” even worse than they treat their consumers. In fact, they treat their “product” as exactly that, a product, and not a human (or group of humans) with feelings, motivations, inspirations, and opinions which need to be cultivated in order to promote the songwriting process. Big corporations run by shareholders don’t understand this. They think it’s an assembly line, where you can come up with a “design” for a style of music, or something, and then churn out a billion of them.

I have heard, and sometimes witnessed, the horror stories that a record label can wreak upon a newly signed band. Some stories of the worst accounts are to be found on the internet if you search around. Here’s the deal:

they send someone who seems young and cool, the kind of guy a band would least expect to screw them over. The problem is, the guy is just an assistant for the real guy, they hire him BECAUSE he’s naive. Even HE doesn’t realize he’s about to royally screw you over. Then they get you to sign a contract. Except what you sign isn’t a contract for how much money your going to earn, how many records you’ll produce, etc. It’s just a contract saying that you agree to sign with them. Essentially, they trick young, naive artists into signing a contract that forces them to only sign with that label, before they’ve even agreed to any terms. That band is then forced to negotiate with THAT label, come hell or high water, until a real contract is made. The band’s time is consumed with the negotiations, for months, until they’ve lapsed their practice schedule, had numerous fights, and generally don’t want to play together, or don’t play very well anymore. they then go into a studio, unprepared, and cut a mediocre record, in a too short schedule, and get a tiny little cut because they signed away their right to take their business elsewhere, before they even had a chance to negotiate the terms of their payment.

Because of this ungodly lame process (there are other ways to get signed that are safer, people like me know this, know the legal, and won’t get screwed, but young high school kids getting their first break don’t know any better, and it kills any artist to see a band with huge potential ruined because they didn’t know what they were getting into). MOST OF THE BEST BANDS IN THE LAST 30 YEARS, YOU”VE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF. They tore up the amateur scene, built a huge underground following, without anyones help, because they were just that good. And then died out at the hands of the record label, before their first disc even hit store shelves. This is 90% of all the best bands that have existed, since about 1965.

EVERY experienced artist knows that it works this way, and that’s why every single one of us simply CANNOT WAIT for the day when we don’t need them anymore. The labels see that day approaching. And they ARE afraid. It’s one thing to have your product stolen, or to lose a chunk of your consumer base. Those are certainly bad things, but you can recover from them, by rethinking your business model. But, a far more critical hit to their business, is if your product itself simply gets up, and walks away.

Equivalent to a software company, imagine if all the programmers came in one morning, and discovered that ALL the code, and ALL the docs, had simply been deleted. It’s a death blow to the software company. Forget rethinking the sales model, or the marketing model, their ability to even produce a viable product is now gone.

What this means, is that it reduces these companies to only one aspect of their business: advertising. When Bands no longer need the label to finance their album, or their concerts, it no longer becomes worth it for the bands to give a major share of their earnings (and control of their creative process) to what is essentially a middle man. The bands can now earn far more money, by directly hiring an ad agency to promote them. They pay the ad agency, and now the BAND is in control of their destiny. GREAT for bands. bad for record labels. The days of the specialized record label are almost over. Right now, the label arranges everything, and gives the band a cut (royalties). You’ll hear far more good music coming out when the bands are in control, and just pay for services, based on how much they are earning.

finally, as an artist, I most definitely encourage music sharing. It would only serve to make me famous without needing to sign with a label. As many artists are now realizing, if they go into it expecting that situation, they can plan up front to make their money from concerts and merchandising, and do VERY well indeed (mostly because the label isn’t hogging 95% of the profits).

Note that this is the exact situation that the Movie industry is also in, and their tactics for survival will need to be the same. Become a service to the artist, instead of owning and controlling the artist. The artist now has a choice to maintain control, and every artist (by the very nature of a creative thinker) will want to maintain that control, if given the choice. And the reasons for wanting that control are simple. One only need look at all the crap music, and crap movies, that get made when artists give up that control.