Ones and Zeros: Singing from the Same Hymnal

Singing from the Same Hymnal

January 12, 2002

Dwight Silverman's Computing column in today's Houston Chronicle is entitled Music industry behind the digital beat. I don't always agree with Dwight, but on this issue he's never missed a note. He understands and has been talking for years about the issues I raised in my music industry rant Paradigm Shift. Highlights from Dwight on this topic:

Licensing Music is like Licensing Software (Real Audio)--Note, I think Dwight should've included songwriters in the underpaid artist side of the equation; typically they get 6-10 cents per CD per song for their creative endeavors.
Here's the point that the music industry just can't seem to comprehend: Consumers will not flock to any pay service that constrains what they do with the music they download.
Consumers as well as artists who are concerned about the music labels' stranglehold on rights have started complaining about the situation to lawmakers.
While the music industry is a powerful lobby, a horde of angry voters is even more compelling in an election year.

Dwight had a draft model for a replacement paradigm defined more than a year and a half ago, in his column Helping Napster Survive. He saw the iceberg long before the RIAA did. Add him to the list of people who will be able to say I told you so when the rest of the world discovers there has been a revolution. While I don't think Rep. Conyers was referring to me, it's nice to know that the RIAA is getting the message, even if I suspect that they aren't listening.

The Internet says to the [music recording and publishing] industry that you folks are yesterday's news, you're following outdated models, your business strategies don't work anymore, and your profit motive is showing rather vulgarly.--John Conyers, D-Mich (via Silverman)

.:Posted by Michael on January 12, 2002 10:14 AM:.