Top 5 Tips to Save the RIAA and the Music Industry
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With the advent of DRM, the music industry is increasingly losing serious amounts of profits. Piracy is at an all-time high, and there’s no end in sight. What can be done to help the music industry save themselves? Here are five things that they may just want to pay attention to, as sent in by a community member.
- Put money into open source iTunes killer, like SongBird for instance. Record industries need an app that works on all platforms, so that everyone can enjoy and use them.
- Invest in Bittorrent, and make it part of the iTunes killer. BitTorrent is the fastest platform, and most widely used. (Note from Chris, keep in mind that BitTorrent isn’t a platform, it’s a series of networks. But I get what you’re saying here)
- Hire coders to make your music available to work on ALL platforms, programs and formats. Nothing is worse than not being able to listen to music you purchased on any media you want.
- Allow any and all stores to sell music, don’t just lock it down like iTunes does. (note from Chris: It’s not really about HOW I get the music, then the fact that I just am able to GET it, period.)
- Profit! (Note from Chris: I’m not really sure what he’s saying here. I mean sure, the record industry needs to make a profit, but in order to do that, they need to increase sales. THey can’t afford to do things to increase sales without profit. It’s a never-ending cycle.)
Lee sends us this comment:
Had to comment, as mindless and uninformed as it may be. The day any of these big musicians arrive for a concert in a Geo or flies coach or moves into my neighborhood because they can’t afford anything more that’s the day I think the music industry is in trouble. I don’t download music because I don’t have time and half the stuff coming out is really crap. But if there was something I did like I have no problem supporting an artist that can entertain me. Of course you can’t support the artist without supporting the music industry. If there is any issue with the music industry it is that it is spending too much money fighting a situation an not taking enough time to see how they could use that situation. Yes piracy is out there, yes it’s a problem because it does cut off SOME of the overwhelming profit that comes in but by making music available and only available to listen to on an ipod (for example) the music industry is not doing itself any favors. I did subscribe to a music service for a short while. When I found that I couldn’t listen to the music I bought on anything but windows media player well that was that. The points brought up in your newsletter were valid. The last thing is that there is nothing worse than buying an album because of one track and having remorse because that was the only track on the album worth listening to. When people have to wonder how they will pay for that next tank of gas it’s amazing to me that the music industry still exists. Hopefully that doesn’t sound to bad but remember it’s just one uninformed opinion. The real impact is on the small or undiscovered artist who may be plenty talented but the MUSIC INDUSTRY does not want to take a chance on. In the end obscene amounts of money are being made but human greed knows no bounds I guess because they want to turn it into ultra obscene amounts.
And this was sent in by Gary:
We are tired of paying inflated prices here in Canada. Yet the smart entertainers go on the road and yes we will pay good money for these shows. Ottawa Ontario where I live has more road shows than Toronto or Montreal.This is a civil service town yet they come out in droves to see these shows. They have trouble coughing up $100.00 to see the NHL Senators but will fork out for music entertainment.
In the good old days and you heard about that somewhere I’m sure, Dick Clark had the right formula. Record stars performed on his show and yes hit singles made it to the top of the charts. 45′s sold for a buck or two and the industry made money. Then they recycled the music into albums meanwhile still churning out new singles.We don’t have Dick nor Ed Sullivan and most of us don’t stay up for the late night shows. The music industry who own networks should start showcasing the talent instead of trying to take individuals to court for small downloads.Canada has stiff laws on piracy but not enough to stem the tide Ask any teen where he got his music for his IPod?
I prefer to buy a song not an album and if the industry could get their head around this they could get back to making money.Come up with ways to use the internet to your advantage. The world is changing. Why can’t those Music execs get their act together,
Gary Pocock
Ottawa Canada
P.S. You are my favorite geek. I’ve been receiving your newsletters almost since you first started having subscribers ..
What do you think can be done to save the music industry? Do you hate DRM as much as I do? Leave me a follow-up comment, or send an email to me at chris@pirillo.com
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