A Matter of Trust

By George Ziemann (March 13, 2003)

In our last chapter, we discovered that mp3s, file sharing and the Internet, far from being the demon at the door, really offered the recording industry an opportunity to save billions of dollars in marketing and promotion. Instead of continuing in the normal greedy, predatory and opportunistic practices the labels have been employing for decades, and absorb it faster than a Bounty paper towel, they decide that free promotion is a bad idea.

I left by offering one of two possible answers to this riddle -- The entire music industry has a total financial IQ of about 10. If so, I hope they can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

The other possibility is that it's all been a lie. All of it. There is no in-between.

Hilary Rosen has resigned from the RIAA, but her resignation doesn't take effect until the end of the year. Before you make any retirement plans, I'm thinking Congress is going to want to talk to you just a couple more times. It'll only take one lawmaker with a tiny speck of gray matter to point out the obvious to the rest of them. If they really wanted to, they could get this into the Justice Department before July.

Just in time for Independents' Day.

Public Trust or Anti-Trust?

Let's talk about the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, what it says and what it means. And, since Microsoft was found guilty of anti-trust activity (only to escape on the penalty phase because the original judge wanted a press pass) we can draw some comparisons to make sure we're on the right track. Plus, the FTC has already nailed the RIAA for price-fixing, which falls under the anti-trust statutes as well.

This means the government already thinks the recording industry is a problem. Let us leave no doubt to the depth and breadth of the problem. And let's not forget the length of the problem, either.

Payola

"It is often said that radio airplay determines whether a recording artist will succeed or fail. Even with the ascendancy of the Internet and webcasting, radio airplay is still the most important factor in an artist's career, and this is especially true for new and younger artists. Getting on the radio, in one way or another, is the holy grail of our business. In a perfect world, merit would determine which records get played on radio. But this is far from a perfect world...

"...Payola is not new. It's been around for a very long time, going back at least to the 1950s. It's always been here. But today, as a result of this unprecedented consolidation, record labels must now hire independent promoters on an even grander scale to help convince radio networks and stations to play certain records.

"Millions and millions of dollars are spent annually on what is called independent radio promotion."

-- Don Henley, January 30, 2003
Senate Commerce Committe Hearing on Media Consolidation

Napster

Napster was one of the best things to happen to music in decades. I didn't really use it, but a friend showed it off to me and we did play a game of "Find That Obscure Title". Napster had them all. All of the out of print, never-made-it-to-CD releases from the past. Not just the "hits". The good songs, too.