The music industry has long lost me as a consumer. I haven't bought a cd in quite a while (although my wife has bought several over the years, so I guess they get my consumer dollars by proxy), but with the release of Ghosts I-IV by Nine Inch Nails, I might start looking again.
As an ex-consumer, I want DRM-free music. I don't want crippled CD's. I don't want lossy formats (well, maybe I do, but if so, I'll make them lossy). I don't want to pay for a CD full of crap just to get one or two good songs. I've purchased a few songs from iTunes, but even then, you get shoe-strung into having to deal with DRM'd music, and having to do the BURN-RIP dance to get some other format, and again you lose quality (albeit my bad ears can't detect it), just to use the music you paid for.
As an ex-consumer, I put the music industry on notice. I've paid NIN $5, not so much for their music, but for their support in standing up for themselves and their consumers. If I can get a chance to actually download what I paid for, I'll probably have a change in heart as to why I shelled out $5. For now, I'm just happy to support the revolution.
As times and technologies change, so must the industries. As the horse and buggy was replaced with the automobile, so were the industries that supported it. Its time the music industry (and you too, movie industry, your time is coming, too!) started to do more to embrace this change. Give people an affordable product that is WORTH PURCHASING and you will have happy consumers for life. It's time to move past the cd era of music, and embrace digital online distribution. I don't believe that moving to digital online distribution will kill the music industry. Quite frankly, I belive the opposite. The longer they wait, the more artists will realize that jumping ship will net them better gains and cut out the middleman. Also, I don't believe that offering DRM-free music will fuel the P2P crowds. I am a firm believer that a good majority of the P2P users fit into 2 categories:
As an ex-consumer, I want DRM-free music. I don't want crippled CD's. I don't want lossy formats (well, maybe I do, but if so, I'll make them lossy). I don't want to pay for a CD full of crap just to get one or two good songs. I've purchased a few songs from iTunes, but even then, you get shoe-strung into having to deal with DRM'd music, and having to do the BURN-RIP dance to get some other format, and again you lose quality (albeit my bad ears can't detect it), just to use the music you paid for.
As an ex-consumer, I put the music industry on notice. I've paid NIN $5, not so much for their music, but for their support in standing up for themselves and their consumers. If I can get a chance to actually download what I paid for, I'll probably have a change in heart as to why I shelled out $5. For now, I'm just happy to support the revolution.
As times and technologies change, so must the industries. As the horse and buggy was replaced with the automobile, so were the industries that supported it. Its time the music industry (and you too, movie industry, your time is coming, too!) started to do more to embrace this change. Give people an affordable product that is WORTH PURCHASING and you will have happy consumers for life. It's time to move past the cd era of music, and embrace digital online distribution. I don't believe that moving to digital online distribution will kill the music industry. Quite frankly, I belive the opposite. The longer they wait, the more artists will realize that jumping ship will net them better gains and cut out the middleman. Also, I don't believe that offering DRM-free music will fuel the P2P crowds. I am a firm believer that a good majority of the P2P users fit into 2 categories:
- They won't pay for music regardless of the price, and as such, no matter how much you charge will not affect them one bit. They will always get it for free no matter what, as long as its available.
- The other group can't find what they deem as being affordable music (and affordable doesn't just mean price, but getting good value out of what they are paying for as well. 99c for a song from iTunes may be "affordable", but having DRM restricting usage quickly erodes that value).
So what does this mean for the music industry? Their attempts to litigate P2P users out of existence, just isn't going to happen. The more they do so, the more people will just hate them for it, and the more customers they will alienate. What they need to do, is move to a business that convinces P2P users to leave voluntarily. They won't be able to convince them all to leave, but it's my belief that a good majority of those in the #2 category will, and without a large enough member base, the P2P users are less likely to find what they want, making the networks less useful for finding music.
For those of you out there that want to join the revolution, help show the music industry that change is inevitable, and that change is now.
For those of you out there that want to join the revolution, help show the music industry that change is inevitable, and that change is now.
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