Better to Share
Today I came across these two articles, The Internet Debacle and Fallout, both by folk singer Janis Ian, both arguing in favor of free/low-cost music downloads. She outlines the many ways in which extensive downloading can generate more money for both artists and the labels, and puts forwards some reasons why the labels are opposing it. It’s good to see insiders—people like artists, which the RIAA is supposed to be “protecting”—put forward arguments like this. From what I’ve heard, recording artists are never very well paid anyway, except for the few that make it big. And so, if downloaded music isn’t actually hurting the artists, and may even be helping them, you have to ask yourself why the labels and the RIAA oppose it so much. Follow those links above to get some of the answers.
And for an economic analysis, here’s an article by Vin Crosbie that says people are willing to buy music online, but the price is closer to 10 cents a pop. The online services that music companies are putting out are going to fail because they’re priced way too high, and the music companies are killing the market by refusing to lower prices to a point that people are willing to pay. So, illegal file sharing will continue, and music companies are unwittingly encouraging it by being so inflexible.