I must have read this idea somewhere, but:
Sep. 4th, 2003 11:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
womzillaA couple of things converged in my mind a few days ago, and a post today from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
baldanders inspired me to post about it.
Baldanders said,
Now, it's been a poorly kept secret of American commerce for nearly two decades that music CDs are overpriced compared to the cost of manufacture and distribution. In fact, over a decade ago, I heard a report that inflated prices on CDs from mainstream labels made it possible to publish small-press CDs and make a profit, so in effect the cartel pricing on big-label music CDs was funding the small-label competition!
However. A few days ago, I heard a content-light report on NPR that colleges and universities are "getting serious" about shutting down on-campus file-sharing in an effort to fight copyright violations. Of course, it is not the case that every file that is shared on file-sharing is a copyright violation; in fact, file-sharing has turned into a good, zero-cost way for new and/or small bands to distribute their music. For that matter, it's turned into a good way for artists like Janis Ian--who have a reputation and fan-base but not stardom, at least not any more--to distribute their works and get people interested in buying them.
Shutting down file-sharing. Slashing the prices of CDs. Am I paranoid in assuming that these are linked parts of a strategy designed to choke out upstart small labels?
[Updated to correct the spellings of Janis Ian and Momus.]
baldanders inspired me to post about it. Baldanders said,
Universal Music Group, the largest music seller in the world and responsible by their own account for thirty percent of U.S. album sales, is dramatically dropping the wholesale and suggested list price of virtually all their cds, bringing the suggested list in most cases to $13.
Now, it's been a poorly kept secret of American commerce for nearly two decades that music CDs are overpriced compared to the cost of manufacture and distribution. In fact, over a decade ago, I heard a report that inflated prices on CDs from mainstream labels made it possible to publish small-press CDs and make a profit, so in effect the cartel pricing on big-label music CDs was funding the small-label competition!
However. A few days ago, I heard a content-light report on NPR that colleges and universities are "getting serious" about shutting down on-campus file-sharing in an effort to fight copyright violations. Of course, it is not the case that every file that is shared on file-sharing is a copyright violation; in fact, file-sharing has turned into a good, zero-cost way for new and/or small bands to distribute their music. For that matter, it's turned into a good way for artists like Janis Ian--who have a reputation and fan-base but not stardom, at least not any more--to distribute their works and get people interested in buying them.
Shutting down file-sharing. Slashing the prices of CDs. Am I paranoid in assuming that these are linked parts of a strategy designed to choke out upstart small labels?
[Updated to correct the spellings of Janis Ian and Momus.]
