Music has always been my first love. Even computers, which are the main focus of my life and career, are second to my love of music. I used to be very discouraged by what I perceived as a lack of good music being recorded in the past 10 or 20 years. The internet has changed all that for me, and introduced me to an endless amount of amazing music from all genres.

Some people would like to see that curtailed. Or, at least they want the distribution of music over the internet to be controlled by the old-school record companies. Thus, I sometimes feel the need to rant.

The sheet music industry tried to stop the manufacture of the phonograph for fear that with recorded music available, no one would attend live performances anymore.

The recording industry tried to stop the first "DJ" who spun rock'n'roll tunes "for free". They feared that no one would buy albums when they could listen to the songs for free. That is, until they realized that every time the guy spun a tune, the sales of that album would skyrocket. Soon they were giving DJ’s albums for free, and sometimes even tried bribing DJ’s with cash to play certain songs.

"The record industry is still pissed off that other people are making money off their business, even if it promotes their products and increases their sales. I think they're still mad about radio," Jonathan Potter.

They tried for years to block the sale of the audiocassette recorder, claiming once again that the technology would destroy the music industry. Sony and Phillips were in court for 8 years defending the Beta recorder and the VCR-- said to signal the end of the movie industry.

Now they have successfully put a harness on Napster, but not so easily on Gnutella and similar, decentralised Internet file-sharing services.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) doesn't want to prevent us from having new technology... but rather they are asking the law to prevent us from utilizing the technology that is already at our fingertips. In my estimation, this time they have very good reason to fear. I don't believe that this technology will destroy music or impoverish artists. It is revolutionizing how music is distributed, however. It begs to question: why do we need record companies?

If an artist can independently record and distribute material to the whole world, perhaps the record companies will soon be reduced to offering a service, for a fee, to musicians. Rather than saying “If you want a shot at success you have to sign the dotted line,” now they will have to solicit their services to independent and empowered recording artists.

With the endless stories of uncompromising, greedy and abusive record companies inhibiting the financial and creative freedom of our even the most famous of musicians, do you really care about the fate of the record labels?

Its time to rethink copyright laws, which were introduced with the advent of the printing press and don't really apply to our current technological capabilities.

08 March 2003  |   permalink