The Death of Music Ownership
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
A week ago, the Recording Industry Association of America successfully sued a Minnesota mom to the tune of nearly 2 million dollars - or about $80,000 a song. It’s part of the record industry’s larger attempts to crush the consumer-led downloading movement of the last decade. But these efforts are a losing battle, says Greg Kot. The rock critic at the Chicago Tribune and author of a new book called Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music, he explains why.
Comments [2]
anonymous -- the musicians are losing, too. A CD that sells over 250,000 copies is considered to be a commercial success. Years ago, that really wouldn't be much at all. Bands have to tour now to make any sort of real money, which has driven up the cost of a concert ticket. Plus, touring is grueling.
There are tons of bands I would never be listening to if it weren't for free downloads. I, and I'm sure plenty of other people, spend lots of money going to live concerts of bands whose music I've found for free on the internet.
The bottom line is, people don't see the point in buying an album they're not sure they're going to like. With free downloads, they can see which bands they like the best, and spend the money they've saved on CDs and MP3s to go to their concerts. Everybody wins--except the record labels. But hey, whatever happened to creative destruction?
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