6 ms·

Many in the music industry who've seen how it looks now vs before MP3s and high bandwidth came along would disagree.

kamjam 13y ago
Welcome to the 21st century. Burying your head in the sand will do nothing, you can't un-invent the technology so either embrace it or fade out.
mrcharles 13y ago
Capital-I Industry, perhaps. But I argue that it's because it's a lot harder to sell garbage albums with just one or two hit songs when you can go to Bandcamp and find a better artist, preview a whole album, and buy it for $5.
humanrebar 13y ago
What did professional music look like before radio? Before audio recording? I'm not convinced that business models that emerged due to technological change should be protected from future technology.
sbarre 13y ago
Yes but you could also argue that there are many many many more artists making money in the music industry now, and that consumers have much more choice. Sure they're not all making millions, but I'd rather see an industry with more players each making less money (i.e. more choices for me), than a smaller group of pre-selected artists (and the machinery behind them) that take home tons of money but put out less varied produced-by-committee content designed for mass consumption. So I think it's arguable whether it's better or worse for the industry, but it's definitely better for the consumer.
raldi 13y ago
That's like if the parent post said, "The invention of the web allowed many more people to communicate, and was an economic boon" and you replied, "Microsoft would disagree." Just because the old toll collectors, middlemen, and gatekeepers are worse off doesn't mean that's true for society as a whole.
hxa7241 13y ago
If plenty of music is being made, so what? If certain businesses cannot make so much money, tough luck on them -- they should get out of business. That is the market. The purpose of copyright law is to ensure good amounts of production for the public overall. It is not there to help certain rent-seeking companies make money.

Welcome to the 21st century. Burying your head in the sand will do nothing, you can't un-invent the technology so either embrace it or fade out.

mrcharles 13y ago

Capital-I Industry, perhaps. But I argue that it's because it's a lot harder to sell garbage albums with just one or two hit songs when you can go to Bandcamp and find a better artist, preview a whole album, and buy it for $5.

humanrebar 13y ago

What did professional music look like before radio? Before audio recording? I'm not convinced that business models that emerged due to technological change should be protected from future technology.

sbarre 13y ago

Yes but you could also argue that there are many many many more artists making money in the music industry now, and that consumers have much more choice. Sure they're not all making millions, but I'd rather see an industry with more players each making less money (i.e. more choices for me), than a smaller group of pre-selected artists (and the machinery behind them) that take home tons of money but put out less varied produced-by-committee content designed for mass consumption. So I think it's arguable whether it's better or worse for the industry, but it's definitely better for the consumer.

raldi 13y ago

That's like if the parent post said, "The invention of the web allowed many more people to communicate, and was an economic boon" and you replied, "Microsoft would disagree." Just because the old toll collectors, middlemen, and gatekeepers are worse off doesn't mean that's true for society as a whole.

hxa7241 13y ago

If plenty of music is being made, so what? If certain businesses cannot make so much money, tough luck on them -- they should get out of business. That is the market. The purpose of copyright law is to ensure good amounts of production for the public overall. It is not there to help certain rent-seeking companies make money.