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journal: think
A way out of the music mess
What a disaster.
What a disaster.
Music piracy has been a hot topic for the last few years. As such, it’s no wonder that the blogosphere is burning hot after it came to light that SonyBMG began using rootkits as part of its DRM scheme on some CDs (which opens up users’ computers to malware—yeah, smooth move guys). Many feel the RIAA has made some pretty objectionable moves the last few years, and I agree. Somehow suing 14-year-old kids doesn’t quite endear you to your customers. But if you were looking for a piece ripping the RIAA to shreads, well, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Yes, we know how short-sighted they are and all that. But I’m not here to rant; enough people are doing that.
Instead, let’s talk about solutions. Where to start? There’s a lot of work to do! Here are some ideas I came up with.
What consumers can do
As the sticker on a new iPod says, “Don’t steal music.” Even if you want to stick It to the Man (RIAA), avoid the temptation. All you’d end up doing is giving the RIAA an excuse to use DRM. It’s a vicious cycle: some people pirate music, RIAA reacts with copy-protection on CDs, more people pirate to avoid DRM and copy protection, RIAA does something more draconian, and around and around it goes. Break the cycle and don’t resort to piracy.
Speak with your wallet. Either cut back how much music you buy or stop buying altogether. Alternately, buy indie (San Francisco Bay Area listeners: listen to “Soundcheck” Sunday nights on 105.3 FM to learn about some good indie bands). But again, don’t resort to piracy.
Keep the pressure on. Pressure from consumers was enough to get SonyBMG to pull its DRM scheme (for now). Keep it up; you have more power than you think.
What the RIAA can do
To quote Google’s corporate mantra, “don’t be evil.” For example, don’t sue kids! For example, don’t be greedy! There’s a difference between something being good for business and something being outright greed.
Treat you customers like customers! The vast majority of customers want to do the right thing, but many customers don’t like being treated as criminals. So far, your current approach has failed. Get a clue; you’re biting the hand that feeds you!
Sign artists who, you know, don’t suck. If the music is great, customers will be willing to buy it.
Make music affordable and accessable. CDs should be no more than about $10. And get customers into the fold; if it means giving away some songs for free to lure customers into buying the album, so be it.
If you must use DRM, do it right. Of the DRM schemes Apple’s FairPlay is on the right track. Give users some freedom. The best way to lose customers is by alienating them. What better way to alienate customers than to institute heavy-handed copy-protection tactics?
Think different(ly) and don’t resist change. Digital distribution has a lot of promise, and services like iTunes and Musicmatch have only scratched the surface of what digital distribution could do. Embrace it.
The internet is still a young medium and there are still a lot of issues that need to be pounded out, including issues like this. But I feel that it’s only a matter of time before such issues are worked out. Hopefully in the end it’s done right.
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| Nick | comments | views |
thinkback
A sureway to stop the piracy?
Attend the artists’ concerts and viewing.
And get rid of the tool that promotes piracy, iPod.
OK then…
Bye bye iPod; Creative Zen; Dell DJ; SMART PHONES; Windows Media Player 8,9, and 10; iTunes; Musicmatch or any other jukebox software; CD burners; CD -ROM drives; the MP3, AAC, and WMA audio formats; Peer-to-Peer networks; tape recorders; etc… Each is a promoter of piracy in some way. Should we get rid of those too?
There isn’t one thing to blame, but many. The technologies are out there and they’re not going away. Instead, the industry must do what any good business does--adapt to the changing landscapes and serve customers better. Realistically, they have no choice.
I wish I had the means (i.e. transportation, time, money) to make it to more concerts. 
| Nick | Nov. 15, 2005 | |
| 1:43 am |
Tools and technologies like the iPod can only aid your existing urges to pirate. They don’t create them.
Remember, guns don’t kill zombies, people do.
Sorry, informer, but that line of reasoning won’t hold up to even a cursory glance with logic…
You’d have to include every device that plays digital music files…
I think they better way for the RIAA to handle “kids” (in quotes because, frankly, at 14 you ought to know what’s right and wrong) is to send letters to their families explaining the situation rather than suing for money. There is a lot of gray out there, and it’s possible that some people getting sued don’t know they’re doing anything illegal. Unlikely, but possible. Even if they are aware, it’s important to make their parents aware.
“Hey, your kid is using his computer to trade thousands of illegally copied songs and exposing you to lawsuits and criminal charges. We could be suing you right now, but we thought we’d be nice and just tell you so that you can take your own steps to fix the situation before you are faced with those other consequences.” I’m guessing if most parents get that letter, they’ll take matters into their own hands. And the RIAA gets to crack down on pirating without looking like the bad guys.
| Nov. 17, 2005 | |
| shempzilla | 10:55 am |
I’d have to agree with Nick, have a reasonable price for music AND leave it open. The music industry doesn’t do those things anymore, so I don’t buy their product, I’m fine with what I have and what I can borrow from friends, family, and radio.
| Nov. 17, 2005 | |
| 5:17 pm |
Nick,
If only you had seen the underlining of my post (in case you still don’t know, I meant it in the extreme).
We do need to support the people who help promote these artists in advertising, because this is what gives them the necessary exposure. Nobody cares if their CDs, LPs, posters or whatever gets shipped by DHL or FEDEXP. These companies don’t market music but make money off it. Apple fits into this category with their iTunes/iPods.
Like video tapes, cassettes and MDs before them, peer-to-peer technology will only continue promoting forms of piracy.
When Apple jumped on the bandwagon, people started to think that it was OK.
Yes I have MP3s, and yes I have the original CDs and tapes for every one of them. I don’t see MP3s as the necessary replacement for higher quality CDs or LPs, but many people do thanks to peer-to-peer being promoted the wrong way and creating this mess.
“How so?”
You tell me! I don’t need to state the obvious.
No, but you do need to clarify the incomprehensible. P2P was HUGE way before Apple ever released the iPod. Remember Napster? They had already exploded into the world, been talked about by every magazine and news show in the country, and been replaced by the next generation of P2P clients before the iPod was even heard of. Apple had nothing to do with legitimizing MP3’s.
Remember when the iPod was released and Apple wanted to push AAC as its preferred format? People were saying they should just refer to it as MP4 so that the general public would understand it better. Why? Because even my grandmother had already heard of MP3. SOrry, but your facts are wrong and your logic is absent.
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| Nov. 18, 2005 | |
| shempzilla | 8:24 am |
“When Apple jumped on the bandwagon, people started to think that it was OK.�
Read it, read it and read it again. If you can’t see it then I don’t think you’ll ever get it.
P2P was made famous even before Napster, Napster only put it on the map because of the huge drive for downloading MP3s and videos at that time. Apple just saw a gold mine and fed off it.
Speaking of logic Shempzilla, after your “Why I don’t like the iPod” debacle of basically nonsense, please don’t waste my time.
And Nick :
“If you must use DRM, do it right. Of the DRM schemes Apple’s FairPlay is on the right track. Give users some freedom. The best way to lose customers is by alienating them. What better way to alienate customers than to institute heavy-handed copy-protection tactics?”
And what I wrote on the other blog :
Some additional information that the OP missed out on :
The DRM technology was written by Sony partner Firt 4 Internet Ltd. of the United Kingdom (http://www.first4internet.co.uk/).
Sony BMG’s copy-protected CDs incorporate First 4 Internet’s XCP2 (extended copy protection) technology. The company is the first major label to offer XCP2-protected CDs to consumers, although Sony BMG already ships some CDs using MediaMax copy protection from SunnComm. The new effort uses different technology, but with the same end result for consumers: a limited ability to copy. By the end of this year, Sony BMG says, most of its CDs sold in the United States will incorporate one of these technologies.
When you insert the CD into your Windows-based computer, the disc launches its own audio player software, which warns you that you’ll be allowed to make only three copies of the disc. You can make those copies from within the Sony BMG audio player, or you can use that software to rip the files to your music library.
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One potential problem for consumers is that the protected CDs prevent PC users from moving songs to Apple IPods. That’s because Apple refuses to license its FairPlay digital rights management technology so that other companies can accommodate it.
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Thanks Apple!
Seriously it pays to do some real RESEARCH rather than blabble on about the crap you write.
For the 3 ridiculous blog entries that you wrote talking about the fault of DRM and SONY, is there something else you can write about?
Glad I have my own site.
“Speaking of logic Shempzilla, after your “Why I don’t like the iPodâ€? debacle of basically nonsense, please don’t waste my time.”
So what you’re saying is, you can’t actually refute what I’m saying so you want to try and divert attention, is that right? Let the rest of us know when you figure out how to have an actual discussion…
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| Nov. 19, 2005 | |
| shempzilla | 12:56 am |
No. I think its just you.
Have a nice day.
House mate here - what informer said.
That must be why everyone else here disagrees with pretty much everything you say. But you make a good point, it’s probably everyone else who’s wrong, and you alone are right. Get a clue.
I would try to help you understand all this this, but it’s pretty clear from what we’ve seen from you that you have extremely poor comprehension skills, and frankly I don’t have time to teach you how to read. Have a great day.
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| Nov. 19, 2005 | |
| shempzilla | 2:04 pm |
You come across as some pompous dumbfuck, especially after reading your comments on the other article which in summary goes something like this “I’m not trying to tell you its the best there is, but it is”. What the fuck are you trying to say then? I’m no geek but informer makes some perfectly reasonable opinions and its seems like you’re just reading past them. I don’t go on the internet much, mainly because I don’t have to listen to internet losers like yourself and for whatever you stand for. Get a life keyboard freak.
informer,
FWIW, while I mention Sony in this entry, Sony is not the target of this particular entry. In fact, there’s no particular target in this entry; the whole point of my post was to not bitch about the problem, but to come up with some solutions.
Nor am I saying that DRM is evil--overly restrictive DRM is, IMHO, however (read Sony’s EULA for XCP-equipped CDs to see what I mean: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004145.php).
As for my comment on FairPlay being a step in the right direction, I was referring to how it gives most legitimate users plenty of wiggle-room as far as copying the files is concerned (7 burns of the same playlist, play on up to 5 computers and an unlimited number of iPods; music can be used in any app that uses QuickTime including iMovie--you can use your music in home movies), while still protecting the copyright. I do agree with you that Apple should open Fairplay to third parties.
I try to do some research beforehand, btw. That doesn’t mean I won’t miss something, though.
| Nick | Nov. 19, 2005 | |
| 8:35 pm |
Genki,
I’m not going to pretend I didn’t read that, because you are obviously not capable of being mature about it so why give you the benefit of the doubt? By the way, great way to introduce yourself to the site, you’ve really made a wonderful first impression.
Obviously you have the same comprehension failings as Informer if that’s what you got out of the other discussion. He’s the only one in that whole thread who ever said one thing was better than another, a claim I never made. I simply explained why I bought the product he has declared to the rest of sucks. He actually argued that I was saying the exact opposite of what I was saying, a fact he continued to ignore even after I quoted us together to prove it to him. I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you, though, since you’re probably him. You seem like the type.
By the way, genius move making fun of me for posting on an Internet forum by posting on an internet forum. That gunshot you heard was logic blowing its brains…
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| Nov. 19, 2005 | |
| shempzilla | 10:09 pm |
1.
So… what does this have to do with the Optimus, again?