Quote:
Originally Posted by Rufuss Sewell  It doesn't matter whether or not it's morally wrong to download/copy music. It's IMPOSSIBLE to stop it.
GET REAL FOLKS!!!!
Deal with reality. Everyone on the planet has the ability to copy information at will. Intellectual property is over. |
People don't have the "ability" to copy information -- they have the software & hardware TOOLS. Imagine if an iTunes-style "software collector" was included in every OS -- I'd guarantee that the software industries would take a bit of a tumble. And there would be plenty of people justifying it with things like "I bought it, why can't I use it on 5 computers, even if the company says I only have one license. So what?" Or "Didn't Microsoft pay for Word 20 years ago? Who cares about their stockholders -- I'm just a college kid doing a book report." Sure, software piracy happens, but not to the extent that music piracy does. And it is a VERY minor issue on console video games -- why? Because they kept the "digital genie" in the bottle.
Something as simple as "every update of iTunes will only extract from original (not burned) CD's and won't allow anything but DRM/purchased or original-CD-extracted music in the library" could change music consumption habits, but a) Congress isn't gonna bother, and b) Apple SURE wouldn't bother, given a $1.7 BILLION 1st quarter (2007) figure for iPod sales. iPod sales are about the same as the commensurate drop in music industry $$$. Hmmm....coincidence, or not?
NOTE THAT IT HAS BEEN MY FIRM BELIEF FOR YEARS THAT AN AD-DRIVEN MUSIC MARKET IS THE NEXT WAVE, but this does not take away from a discussion of intellectual property rights.
Fluctuations in music sales are leveraged to the point that a minor uptick means that people get jobs, productions get budgets, and new artists get more of a "shot" -- while a downslide just forces the industry's hand. If you (as an A&R or mgr/lawyer/etc.) are likely to lose your job/livelihood if the department/firm has a couple of "down" quarters, you're not gonna try that new studio, or that new mixing engineer, or anything not resembling a "sure bet."