Music Guru and trusted aficionado Alan Cross has written about a piece of hush-hush copyright legislation: Music Fans Be Very Afraid. I think that Alan is over-reacting a little, but please read this article.
The ACTA. Really, this type of thinking — whether or not the wheels are in fact in motion on this — is no surprise to me. There has been a lot of talk for a long time about getting ISPs (Internet Service Providers) on board with the copyright police. I even attended a forum on this very topic some time ago.
On one hand, the logic behind the argument can be understood; if you can’t control the media then you can control the delivery of the media. On the other hand, one can’t help but shake his or her head at the purveyors of a broken business model. I would like to shake the latter of the two hands. Really, how long have the giants of the music industry tried seemingly *everything* except something that people really want? What *do* people want anyway?
People want MP3s.
People want a lot of MP3s.
People don’t want expensive CDs.
People want A LOT for A LITTLE.
Take me for an example: I have roughly 500 CDs, yet, these are completely cumbersome to me at this point. I used to organize them in alphabetical order (seriously!). Now? I have an extra 200-disc piece of furniture (really, it is) that is now serving as a dumping ground for ripped CDs. Sure, there are times whereby I find myself in a car with no AUX jack for my iPod and I need some CDs, but…that’s nothing concrete. They’re also good to lend to people, but that’s a rather minimal point of argument. Why? I take my iPod with me on the way to work in the morning, I plug it in at work, it’s a part of me on my trip back home and then it gets plugged in when I get home. CDs are expensive and annoying in comparison.
So why is a business model of purchasing little bundles of music still being pushed upon us? I will have no problem with an ISP-based method of copyright control IF, and it’s a big if, there is an alternative business model that gets thrust into the mainstream. We need a different way of consuming music AND paying for it if we’re going to have to answer to our ISPs.
In that vein, why Spotify doesn’t exist in North America COMPLETELY BAFFLES ME. The Major Labels have given it a go in Europe, but not here? What is wrong with them!?
We need a method of paying “x” amount of dollars to obtain “y” amount of music, on a monthly basis. Just think about it: there is already an ENTIRE system set up that works on this very same model. What is it called? TELEVISION! Can you imagine having to pay $9.99 every time you wanted to watch the show LOST? No! It’s ridiculous.
So, you have a “cable bill” every month and you get hundreds of hours worth of programming for what you pay. It enriches your life. Thus, why can’t you have a “music bill” every month? You pay a certain amount, and you can listen to whatever you want! If you opt in to the system, you get the benefits; if you opt out of the system, the ISPs crack down on your internet traffic.
You can decide whether or not this is a good analogy, but if we are to get scrutinized by our ISPs under the current music business model, we had better keep moving forward. The old way of consuming music cannot prevail; it doesn’t even exist any longer, and there is no way to get back to it.
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