iChoons

In 1853, two Portugese gentlemen by the name of José da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino wrote an English phrasebook and conversational guide. Nothing unusual in that you say. The book was called 'English as she is spoke' (not *exactly* its original name) and is still regarded as one of the most unintentionally funny works of humour ever created.

My point in bringing it up was to illustrate that although their intention was serious the results were hilarious as they completely ignored how English was used by actual English speakers.

We have a similar situation with our contemporary music industry. They have created their own phrasebooks and conversational guides using only the inadequate sources of information available to them. The music industry (as a whole - we are talking generalisations here after all...) lives in an ivory tower that they have meticulously (although unconciously) constructed for themselves.

They KNOW for a fact that the world and its mother wants another boy band or over-sexualised pre-pubescent teen, just as José da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino KNEW that the world needed a Portugese-English phrasebook written by two gentlemen who had no knowledge of English and only had a Portugese-French and French-English Dictionary to help them.

I'll expound on what I see are the failings of the music industry at some other time, not to get off the point too much I wanted to establish that the music industry lives in a fantasy land. A land that has as much to do with the reality of the average music listener as lawn edger do for the inuit people.

I provide a partial list of the tenets of the music industry:

1. The music industry is infallible - Any drop in sales is a result of increased filesharing not a result of poor quality output from the music industry
2. Customers can only use approved media formats and players to access the music they purchased - anything else is theft
3. Customers that attempt to exceed their rights are criminals and thus forfeit their music and property as a result

1. This is plainly ridiculous. Yes, most people are happy with the muck that passes for popular music nowadays, but this has been true for many years. Not everyone has the high expectations of true music lovers. Favourite tunes often are tied to a fond memory or evoke a specific period of time in your life. It is never a simple case of 'this music is good' vs. 'this music is bad'.

   However, suggesting that people will buy the same muck time and time again is fantasy. People are very quickly becoming jaded with 'the next big thing'. The amount of time that a tune spends at the 'number one' spot has reduced over the years - a measure both of the dwindling quality of popular music and the attention deficit of consumers

   Studies have been done that conclude that file sharing may actually boost CD sales - and a very complete analysis here. This is attributed to the fact that people use file sharing to test the music before purchase, as there is very little chance for them to hear a wide range of music on the radio, TV etc, and as a result will purchase more music from a newly doscovered artist than intended.

2. There is such a thing as fair use. In its general incarnation it alows customers to make backup copies of their music, and to do whatever they need to in order to access their media.

   This should allow them to lawfully burn a CD to play in their car, rip the music from their CD to their home computer and then copy it to their iPod and from there to their computer in work.

   The freedom required to allow the last case - free movement of your music from device to device - also allows you to take your music and give it to your friends. Strictly speaking this is theft. BUT - in my experience, sharing music with friends results in them seeking out more music from the artist, buying more CD's, attending concerts etc. not to mention word fo mouth and general good will. A net bonus in my opinion.

   As it stands customers cannot do any of this. Music downloaded form iTunes can only be played on the one computer and your iPod. Problems arise when you try to move your music to a new computer, iPod, a CD for your car, your computer at work - oops! you have run out of licences to play your music. What happens when the curent 'generation' of iTunes customers discovers that they cannot move their music collection to their shiny new computer?

   There will be a revolution. A day of reckoning that Apple must see coming and refuses to acknowledge. It will be a watershed in the battle between music industry and music consumers, a battle that so far has been fought silently.

   I'm not just picking on Apple - its just a great example - all the online music stores that employ DRM face the same problem.

3. Executives of the major music companies have suggested that people who fileshare or who attempt to break the DRM on ther music files should have their computers explode or at least have every file on their computer irrevocably deleted.

   On other words, if I want to listen to a copy of some music I bought on iTunes on my home computer and I use a third party tool to restore my consumer rights y allowing me to copy the iTunes music, then I should have very file on my computer destroyed.

   Does that make sense?

Most of the music industries thinking only makes sense if you realise that they consider all their paying customers to be criminals.

Customers expect the following (some of which are unrealistic)

1. Music should be free
2. It should be possible to play purchased music on any device.
3. It should be possible to move purchased music from any device to any other device and/or format any number of times
4. It should be possible to resell purchased music
5. Purchased music should be available for download from the provider at any time

1. Bizzare as it is this sometimes should be true.

   It has been shown that giving away some music can pique interest in the rest of a band's music. It usually dosesn't lead people to think that the band will be giving its music away for free forever.

   Magnatune proved that people will pay what they think the band deserves. Magnatune is an independent internet music company that signs what is essentially a non-exclusive distribution deal with their artists.

   When people come to buy an album or a tune they can choose from a range of prices. The suggested price is usually 8 dollars for an album. The range goes all the way from 5 dollars to 18 dollars.

   As expected, lots of people choose to pay only 5 dollars. Another large bunch of people choose to pay the suggested price. But strangely enough, there is a large number of people who choose to pay the higher amounts. In 2003 the average price paid for an album was $9.82 (couldn't find more recent data)

   Obviously, people like free music, but people also like to reward the artist for a job well done. With an independent company like Magnatune the artist gets paid properly every time.

   psst. Hey Kid. First one's free...

2. This one should be a no-brainer. If you have bought music then you should be able to play it freely on any device you own.

3. This is a little more difficult. It relies heavily on the assumption that the seller will delete all copies of the music from their system.

   What about backups? If you burn backup DVD's of your data then you won't be able to remove just the files you sold. Reburning these backups is an onerous process.

   This basically comes down to requiring that people don't try and sell their purchased music more than once. It comes down to trust

4. Again Magnatune have this one covered.

   iTunes allows you to re-download your songs ONCE and once only - with a special dispensation from the pope himself. ONCE!

   Not sure about the other services as I havent checked. I am signed up with the very promising eMusic and I will let you know if they have this sorted.

I know this is only a cursory examiniation of the problems, lets just call it broad strokes to frame future arguments and lay out some ground work on exactly what my opinions are regarding the state of music.Suffice to say - the music industry, she is broke.

There is a new kid on the block - Spiral Frog. Check out their press release:

Wow, I'm already feeling pumped!

SpiralFrog will offer those consumers (ed: the young ones) a better experience and environment than they can get from any pirate site.

But Pirates rock! With their three corner hats, wooden legs, parrots and antiquated mode of speech.

some key factors - legal digital files with no viruses or spyware in a controlled client-server architecture

Excellent, client-server architecture - that is SO innovative and will make my music sound MUCH better!

quick downloading

Dude, you just need to configure BitTorrent properly...

...and quality songs and music videos by great artists as among the primary benefits users will gain.

hmm.

So far it sounds great - client-server architecture, fast downloads, no viruses, great music. Sweet. There MUST be a catch somewhere

Digital rights management technology is built-in to all audio and video content as part of measures the company and its partners are actively taking to address piracy.

Uh, oh.

We want to provide the best environment for everyone - OUR PARTNERS and the _{recording artists}, as well as consumers (ed: emphasis mine)

Piracy continues to be one of the biggest issues facing the music industry where illegal file sharing and unauthorized CD burning are the prime means of music piracy. Digital rights protection will help us combat piracy and provide peace of mind for the record labels _{and the artists.}

Sorry, the biggest threat to the music industry nowadays is themselves. Here's a hint - treating customers like crminals is not a good idea!

Offering legally-authorized audio and video downloads in an advertising-supported environment works, as our business model is based on sharing our income streams from that advertising with our content partners like Universal.

Oh god, I feel it coming....

the company's research revealed that consumers are more than willing to 'pay' for their content by watching non-intrusive, contextually-relevant, targeted advertising in an online entertainment environment where advertising is already part of the overall experience.

And there it is. You have to watch a little infomercial every time you want to download a tune

We believe SpiralFrog will deliver an audience we highly desire and need to reach

But killing seals for fur is bad! Oh, wait...

Our audience is heavily into music and can be more easily reached on the web. We see SpiralFrog as an ideal place for us to communicate and build lasting relationships with our core audience and which give us unique new revenue opportunities.

Lasting relationships come from mutual respect.

And the marketing company chimes in...

The challenge is to find ways to integrate messaging and content to engage and add value to consumers' lives rather than just add to the message clutter out there. Companies like SpiralFrog offer a more direct engagement opportunity and have the potential to be of value to consumers and, as a result, our clients

Oh, hang on they arent a marketing company they are a 'communications services group'

Mediaedge:cia is a unit of GroupM, the media investment management arm of WPP Group, one of the world's largest communications services groups.

And finally...

SpiralFrog's target audience - people between the ages of 13 and 34 - is an advertiser's dream

...

This is the core audience we will attract by building a music-centric experience and destination that is second to none, legally delivering what the majority of users want - content they pay for only with their time.

Time is money dude, for real.

It's content that advertisers are willing to pay for on their behalf.

Wait, didn't they just say that we paid for it with our time?

SpiralFrog will launch in beta later this year.

And hopefully sink like a stone to the murky depths, never to be seen again.

But then again it is a frog we are talking about and there is a lot of nuclear waste about - Dagon?

Wow.

I mean....wow!

I have no words to adequately describe what Microsoft is about to pull off. I am actually, in a perverse way, impressed!

Even their marketing site for Zune expresses their deep, twisted hatred of their customers

Microsoft's Zune marketing site

Auto-conflagrating birds and weirdos with bunnys. Says it all.

They are pushing the message of sharing your music, emphasizing the WiFI aspect but then have DRM up to the keister to stop you er, sharing.

Also if you went and bought into the whole Plays for sure system then you are completely b0rked. The DRM in the Zune system (which includes software, hardware and an online music service) is completely incompatible with the DRM for Play For Sure. I haven't been able to find a clear migration strategy for such users either - maybe Microsoft thinks that customers will continue to use both services? Maybe Microsoft is mad.

To "paraphrase" Paul Allen:

Deliberate, deliberate, deliberate, deliberate, deliberate, deliberate, deliberate.....

Some people see this as a power move on Microsofts behalf, a cynical effort to grab market share from Apple and iTunes and keep them using heavy handed DRM. Lets have a quick round up of the pros and cons for that argument:

• Pros : Zune player and iPod look extremely similar
• Cons: Compared to iPod / iTunes the Zune message is diffuse, slightly ugly and un-compelling

• Pros: Microsoft is offering a 'buy out' plan for iTunes users to migrate to Zune (they have not yet offered such a thing for Play for Sure customers...)
• Cons: Microsoft aren't actually offering anything new, its a very 'me too' message - wheres the differentiation? Apple does the 'me too' thing with such style that people think they innovated the product/service in question. True to their history, Microsoft still thinks in beige.

• Pros: Microsoft is increasing the amount of DRM with no good reason other than to lock users into their systems. They are doing this across the board with the new Windows Media player 11 having onerous DRM 'capabilities'. This is plainly a case of locking down the borders and strengthening defences before going into battle.
• Cons: Not many for this argument I would think. People are being good little drones and swallowing the line about DRM 'protecting' them. This is true for Apple as much as for Microsoft.

• Pros: The Zune allows you to share your music with others by using WiFi
• Cons: three days, three plays - 'nuff said

No doubt the zune will be bought in small droves and leave the shelves like slightly warm cakes but in terms of splash - what's it all about?

not!

In case you didnt see it, Bank of America employees recently plagarised U2's song at a meeting/ceelebration of the merger with Capital One (I think). They basically rewrote the words of the song and sang their own version.

Imagine the cutzpah! Standing up in front of all your fellow workers, bosses and new worker drones to rip the soul out of a song that many of those present had a life afirming/changing moment while listening to. Oh yeah, and someon posted it to YouTube.

All good. Fifteen minutes of fame (well, maybe slightly longer...) until the Universal music lawyers come a knocking with their cease and desist. It seems that money cant buy everything, or maybe some Universal attack sharks actually have a soul after all!

Or maybe something else is going on here.

The Bank of America performance is a parody of the original U2 song, regardless of how dead-pan the two (w)bankers were in their delivery (and the singer wasnt too bad actually!)

Parody is allowable and covered by free speech and all that in the United States and I would hazard a guess everywhere else in the world. The fact that the bulk of the YouTube servers reside in the United States should mean that U.S. law covers them anyway.

So why did the lawyers think that it was OK to start throwing around legal documents with sharp, snappy words beginning in C and ending in T? (cease and desist..! dirty mind...)

Well, for a start, that is what lawyers do. They justify their existence by doing lawyery stuff.

Also, unfortunately, the music industry has initiated a reasonable revenue stream through the simple method of suing Joe and Jane Doe. This activity carries no extra costs such as R&D, packaging, producers, recording costs etc., its as simple as putting a coin in a vending machine and getting your crisps or chocolate bar.

The same logic might apply to the U2 parody sung by the Bank Employees.

When I first saw it I was both appauled and entranced and couldnt believe that they trod so roughly on my dreams. Now? I am behind them 100%

Legislation, not piracy is the biggest threat to the music industry today. It should be all about music - the leeches, sharks and hangers-on will drag the industry to a watery grave.

Hmm, not such a bad thing though - without the 'industry' the musicians would quicly fill the void left and create something that would take advantage of the internet, peoples attitudes, technology and create a new golden age of music.

Grab a guitar, get out on the streets and parody a famous song.

Do it today, do it for the musicians. All we have to loose is coked up record comany executives and god knows we dont need more of them.