The Australian music industry has helped push out a video which is currently being rammed down kids throats in high schools everywhere.
Meant to 'educate' the youth, it is a very cunning and underhanded attempt at the portrayal of poor, working-class musos who are suffering at the hands of 'technology'. WTF? WTF indeed.
The biggest contradiction is the artists themselves. How, on one hand, can they be making grand old statements about how they and the labels are paying the price of poor record sales and cursing those who download their music, then turn around and and on the other hand say that the industry is changing, that 'technology' has evolved so much and try to educate the people driving change to cease and desist?
Make a decision! Do you want to whinge and whine to the people who you want to listen to music, making you famous, to stop and go back to being old-school, or adapt? Don't complain to your fans - complain to the industry! We shouldn't change, they should. I can't remember the quote, and excuse me for not subjecting myself to the video again, but one of the bloody Veronicas said it herself -- it's a job, it's a business. Business is so important these days.
Bingo! Do you see big business complaining that people are changing? No -- you see business adapting. If any large business started complaining about their users switching to another provider, or cheaper and better technology, their 'fanbase' would plummet.
Yes, it's about business. Ditch the industry dinosaurs who fear the reaper that is the more technologically advanced user base. Stakeholders need to pull their heads out of their arses and get with it. You're not going to make people buy more CDs when they have a cheaper option, but you can get the people who already have the and driving power to be innovative.
Phew. Spent.
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Andrew Dick 05.07.08 at 10:11 am
The fact of the matter is that the music industry operates because the big players have (had) a monopoly on distribution channels. The internet has wiped most of that out already, and will continue to erode the rest. So rather than developing new business models they have decided that the best course of action is suing their customers.