Comments on: UK watchdog attacks Big Music

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 09:04:02 +0000

Unfortunately, Ms. Johnstone seems to have been taken in a bit by the Big Four’s propaganda. She talks about striking a balance between consumers and the artists rights. The corporations that comprise the Big Music Cartel, through mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, piss-offs, and other forms of splintering, have basically been reduced to nothing but distributors. Virtually all of the ‘creative’ work is performed by individuals, smaller companies, and specialized ’boutique houses’ to get something in the can for the big Four to peddle. They still have the traditional ‘departments’ (like A&R), but these are principally staffed by administrators, accountants, and lawyers to manage the contracts of the people and companies who actually perform these tasks.

The Big Four (and their predecessors) having been shortchanging and treating the creative people rather shabbily over the past several years, in addition to their new strategy of extorting money from their consumer base. It’s really the Big Four against, uh, well, everyone else.

Since they only really know distribution, if there were some way to bypass them to get the music in the hands of consumers, it would make everyone’s life much more pleasant. It would have to be easy to access, preferably right in the home, easy to set up and use, be able to access a large number of sources that might be significantly geographically dispersed, have a common set of mechanisms for efficient communications, and be supported by organizations versed in keeping things going 24/7/365 staffed with highly trained people, yet the users don’t really have to know ALL (or even much at all) of the details in order to use it to get what they wish……

Oops, I think I just described the internet. The threat to the entertainment industry is the internet itself. It’s a much larger and considerably more efficient distribution network than the ones the cartels have set up. If you can’t prevail over a rival by competing fairly either you fold your tent, or……. (I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to consider the possibilities.)

–TG

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 03:36:58 +0000

Buy pre-used products, borrow from libraries etc. Let’s do everything we can to take as much money as possible away from these greedy, little creatures! Treat them with the contempt they deserve.
If you ask your local library for a disk they are duty bound to supply it (at least here in Wales, U.K.), so go and borrow as many as you can – and whether you copy them and share them among as many people as you can isn’t up to me.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 16:56:59 +0000

Like I’ve said before, people need to STOP buying ALL CD’s and DVD’s and movie tickets for one year.
Just rent them or borrow from friends.
This crap will stop overnight.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 16:55:16 +0000

My interpretation:

The politicians have turned against the people that put them there.

The legal system has turned against the people that own the system

The entertaiment industry has turned against its customers.

Music publishers and the songwriter associations have turned against songwriters.

The press has turned agaisnt the people that buy their products.

Dealers of all kinds of products and services have turned against their customers.

Public employees have turned agaisnt the people they work for.

Soldiers have turned against people they have never met.

All for MONEY…. THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL.

Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com