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The RIAA and the Secret Treaty of Doomby George Ziemann -- October 22, 2009 There's some copyright treaty out there (okay, okay, it's ACTA, aka the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) that has been designated a secret by Obama's team. Of course, that doesn't make it impossible to find the first draft, but you didn't hear that from me. I have to say that this thing is damn hard to read, and not just because it's secret. No, the RIAA didn't learn new words, but all the pages are double-nought spy camera shots and very few paragraphs are actually in focus. From what I couldn't possibly have seen (since it's a fucking secret) some people are definitely going to throw a fit, although there was nothing in it that changes the truth of rule #27 (at right). Personally, I'm glad to see that they are spending their dwindling resources on an effort that is only going to further annoy what audience is left instead of, oh, I don't know, making music? There's a saying that I hear too often -- "They call it the music business for a reason." Funny, I always thought it was the music business. No music, no business. It's pretty simple. The same thing applies to almost anything -- if you consistently make a great product for a reasonable price, you will have business. Some years will be better than others. Abandoning the dedication to creating a great product because it's not cost-effective is always a bad move. It seems like this usually starts when someone takes over who doesn't really understand what it is that makes Brand A better than Brand B in the first place. Without trying to be snarky or sarcastic, I think that this is exactly what happened to the music industry. They think that their product is equally as good as it used to be, despite having abandoned the over-30 demographic that kept them fat and happy for so long. This treaty would bring the RIAA one step closer to their goal of no one being able to hear music for free. They still think the invisible pirates are responsible for their declining sales. I stopped buying after Clive Davis mixed hip-hop in with Carlos Santana. If I had had a chance to discover this before I bought it, I wouldn't have. Each year, Neilsen touts more "music buying decisions" than ever before. Freed from radio, which would only play they one song the labels were pushing, most of these buying decisions are to just buy the song they like. Already knowing they don't want the rest of the album is probably the only real way that peer-to-peer has hurt music sales. I don't understand the mentality which believes that you can legislate sales. Of course, I didn't understand suing college kids, either. What I do understand is that the more time and money the record labels continue to pour into these activities, the less thay have to spend on making good music, assuming they could tell when they did. |
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