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Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Record companies still don't get it
This is a timely post given that the Australian Labor Party has announced it will in the main support the proposed Free Trade Agreement with the United States. So that means our various intellectual propert laws will be harmonised with those of the United States. What does that mean for you and I? Well, it means that having a DVD player that can read DVDs from more than our own region will become illegal, because it 'circumvents' the copy protection built in to the DVD. And it means that thousands of Australians will immediately become the targets of a pumped up recording industry, cracking down on people who download songs without paying for them in an effort to stop the decline in recorded music sales.
Setting aside the debate about whether filesharing is actually responsible for the decline in CD sales (DVDs might be cannibalising CD market share for example), it's worth considering the relationship between fans and artists, and how that relationship drives sales.
Ian Condry from MIT in the States, has published a paper (PDF) that looks at the differences between how the American and Japanese recording industries are tackling the problem of illegal copying of music. He finds that the same impulses for copying are present in America and Japan - that consumers feel that CDs are grossly overpriced and usually only have one or two good songs on them, that copying doesn't really hurt artists because the record companies don't pay them much anyway, and that those who artists do have a lot of money can afford a few illegal downloads.
Condry points out that many consumers have become alienated from the industry as they understand that they are the subjects of deceptive marketing practices designed only to shift ever-increasing volumes of product. He also found that many consumers would be prepared to pay for music produced by musicians they respect and admire, and have an ongoing relationship with.
Unfortunately the record companies show no sign yet of understanding that their own awful practices are to blame for the devaluing of their own product. Instead they continue to take teenagers and grandparents to court, to sponsor anti-filesharing legislation and to wage a propaganda war against the consumers and the technologies.
In the end they will lose of course. The ease with which a file can be copied means that copying will always continue. Record companies will either eventually learn to change, or they will die. Unfortunately that will take some time, and while we wait they are going to do their best to turn us all into criminals.
Setting aside the debate about whether filesharing is actually responsible for the decline in CD sales (DVDs might be cannibalising CD market share for example), it's worth considering the relationship between fans and artists, and how that relationship drives sales.
Ian Condry from MIT in the States, has published a paper (PDF) that looks at the differences between how the American and Japanese recording industries are tackling the problem of illegal copying of music. He finds that the same impulses for copying are present in America and Japan - that consumers feel that CDs are grossly overpriced and usually only have one or two good songs on them, that copying doesn't really hurt artists because the record companies don't pay them much anyway, and that those who artists do have a lot of money can afford a few illegal downloads.
Condry points out that many consumers have become alienated from the industry as they understand that they are the subjects of deceptive marketing practices designed only to shift ever-increasing volumes of product. He also found that many consumers would be prepared to pay for music produced by musicians they respect and admire, and have an ongoing relationship with.
Unfortunately the record companies show no sign yet of understanding that their own awful practices are to blame for the devaluing of their own product. Instead they continue to take teenagers and grandparents to court, to sponsor anti-filesharing legislation and to wage a propaganda war against the consumers and the technologies.
In the end they will lose of course. The ease with which a file can be copied means that copying will always continue. Record companies will either eventually learn to change, or they will die. Unfortunately that will take some time, and while we wait they are going to do their best to turn us all into criminals.
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