I know the Internet has seriously damaged the music label's revenue stream but why hasn't it done even more damage? It is 2011,the labels should not still have this much power, should they?
If labels have copyright over the song they have a legal monopoly over reproduction of the song (minus fair use). The Internet alone cannot destroy this type of monopoly for legal services.
I fully agree, everyone talks about how disgusted they are by record labels, myself included, but we have been in this game a while now, artists have had the ability to sell directly the consumers, media services have been in the position to promote independent artists.
I remember some Steve Jobs quite about the scary truth about news organisations producing washed down trite because that is what people are asking for, is the same true of the music industry?
Record companies are still relevant because they provide what is probably the most important element of a band/musician's success: marketing.
This is not something music fans are likely to admit, but their tastes are determined more by shrewd marketing than by some "objective" measure of talent or quality.
It reminds me of an article I read recently - a world-renowned violinist played in the DC Metro for a day. Not a single person recognized him, and very few people recognized the quality of his performances. Most just passed him by and some dropped quarters as if he's just a run of the mill subway performer.
IMO, people do not have the discerning taste they seem to attribute to themselves. This goes for movie buffs, music fans, video game connoisseurs. Everyone.
So, in an environment where people's perceptions of art and media is more determined by preconceptions and biases than any pseudo-objective measure of quality, the difference between winners and losers is who can shape their image the best. This takes a shitload of money, spent in a shrewd way - record labels are still very, very good at this.
They own rights to pretty much all music that was recorded in the 20th century. It would be difficult to overstate thr amount of money/power that affords them.
the Internet has seriously damaged the music label's revenue stream
Has it? It's 10 years since Napster lost the court case and the music industry is still awash with money. Have the record labels lost much revenue in the last 10 years? I don't believe that "piracy is killing the record labels", because if it was, they would have been killed by now.
It's difficult to change in a decade what the law has been saying since 1662 (that's when copyright law came into the existence, around the time printing was invented).
What we've seen since then is simply a natural result of the slippery slope that resulted as a pretty good idea. It will take a long time to go back up such a slippery slope again.
zmanji|14 years ago
daleharvey|14 years ago
I remember some Steve Jobs quite about the scary truth about news organisations producing washed down trite because that is what people are asking for, is the same true of the music industry?
potatolicious|14 years ago
This is not something music fans are likely to admit, but their tastes are determined more by shrewd marketing than by some "objective" measure of talent or quality.
It reminds me of an article I read recently - a world-renowned violinist played in the DC Metro for a day. Not a single person recognized him, and very few people recognized the quality of his performances. Most just passed him by and some dropped quarters as if he's just a run of the mill subway performer.
IMO, people do not have the discerning taste they seem to attribute to themselves. This goes for movie buffs, music fans, video game connoisseurs. Everyone.
So, in an environment where people's perceptions of art and media is more determined by preconceptions and biases than any pseudo-objective measure of quality, the difference between winners and losers is who can shape their image the best. This takes a shitload of money, spent in a shrewd way - record labels are still very, very good at this.
hyperbovine|14 years ago
rmc|14 years ago
Has it? It's 10 years since Napster lost the court case and the music industry is still awash with money. Have the record labels lost much revenue in the last 10 years? I don't believe that "piracy is killing the record labels", because if it was, they would have been killed by now.
Swizec|14 years ago
It's difficult to change in a decade what the law has been saying since 1662 (that's when copyright law came into the existence, around the time printing was invented).
What we've seen since then is simply a natural result of the slippery slope that resulted as a pretty good idea. It will take a long time to go back up such a slippery slope again.
calcnerd256|14 years ago