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Originally Posted by B-Line
- And, let me just state, the RECORD INDUSTRY needs to do WHATEVER it can right now to protect itself. As will the film industry in the next few years. If it doesn't, the industry will cease to exist as we know it. So unless we want to sit around listening to Jethro (not TULL) playing Dueling Banjos by the fire, we must accept the fact that it is a business that is just trying to survive at the perils of theft and nothing more.
B
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I disagree with some of this.
I don't think it's a bad thing for both the music and movie industries to change. I don't mean to say that business owners should not be able to seek profits, but they will have no choice but to adjust to consumer demand for their products. I believe the movie industry was concerned about the VCR (court challenges over fair use) and what it would do to the industry. Turns out that the video sales were great for the industry. Now the industry makes the same or more $$ off the video release than they did at the box office.
Is stealing music wrong? Absolutely. But we can credit it, or the industry's argument that file sharing has reduced sales (I'm skeptical until I see the data), with forcing the industry to think about changing a business model that wasn't very friendly to the consumer or the artist -- consumers now can pay less at iTunes and at a retail store (the industry used to withold advertising dollars from the Circuit City's of the world in order to keep prices high -- I believe the Justice Dept. stepped in on that one), up and coming artists (Jethro) can post/sell his music on his own website, and maybe established artists have a little more leverage in negotiating with major labels.