Why Online Music Download Stores Are Half Full
from the it's-complicated dept
For all the hype about the various music download stores, people are still (rightfully so) complaining that many are missing songs from popular artists, or that certain songs are only available at some download stores, but not at others. Here's a good explanation of all the contractual difficulties associated with putting songs online for sale at these download stores. Part of the issue is really just one of legacy contracts that didn't take into account the potential for downloadable music stores. While the musicians, lawyers, agents, and record label execs fight this all out, most people will continue to just use free file sharing networks instead.
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I've been saying this sort of thing for years.....
File sharing will not go away anytime soon. Only when artists, songwriters, and labels give up some of their control when it comes to distributing their music will we see a significant decrease in online piracy. As an electronic music DJ which spins .MP3 and .Wav files, I don't even bother trying to find legitimate copies of the music that I'm after, because 19 times out of 20 the track is not available on any online music site, and if it is, it is in a highly restrictive copy protected format. So, while each and every little party is bitching and moaning about this that and the other thing regarding royalties, the whole system of online music sales is getting a bad reputation (especially in underground music circles).
What I would like to see, is some sort of re-definition of copyright law, where the artist has no control over where and how their music is distributed (or sampled, etc), but the artist is guaranteed a percentage of revenue for the digital copies of their works that are sold. Simple, consumers have the final decision on what they buy, from whom, artists get paid fairly, and nobody holds the market hostage through some legal bullshit. Either we redefine copyright, or we throw it out the window, because in the future consumers will simply not stand for this industry redtape. The current moral ambivalence to file sharing in the general public is proof of that.
ATA
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