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Editorial by Gene Pitts
Owner and editor of the audiophile voice.
Digital Doings
I have said for some time that recording industry executives apparently think that they are in the "packaged goods" business, that the shiny discs they sell in those shrinkwrapped clam-shells they call "jewel boxes" actually are the music, and that the quality of the music makes little difference since album sales will go up if appropriate colors are used on the parts visible in the store rack. One of the more obvious types of packaged goods selling is laundry detergent, and I call your attention to the fluorescent colors used on such boxes. The brightness of the colors is often the only major difference between two brands in such a category. But I can always tell Yo-yo Ma from Springsteen; I suspect that you can too.
But "digital piracy," that is the copying or downloading of digital content such as music from a CD or a movie from a DVD, needs a well-considered response, says a recently released report entitled "Promoting Innovation and Economic Growth: The Special Problem of Digital Intellectual Property." "These problems, perfect copies of high-value digital works being transmitted instantly around the world at almost no cost, require clear, concentrated thinking, rather than quick legislative or regulatory action."
This policy recommendation comes from the Committee for Economic Development (CED), which is a sort of business think-tank. The CED is more than 60 years old and describes itself as a "non-profit, non-partisan organization of more than 200 business leaders and university presidents " A quick scan of their Research and Policy Committee shows quite a few outfits whose names I recognize, e.g. IBM, The Brookings Institution, TIAA-CREF, Duke Univ., BankAmerica, BellSouth, Diebold, General Electric, Korn/Ferry, Deloitte Touche, Verizon, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Northwestern Univ., Ford Motors, et al. I'm certain that my lack of recognition of the others has to do with my lack of knowledge in this area.
Charles Kolb, the group's president, says they "are concerned about any roadblocks to innovation. Logical and fair solutions to the intellectual property rights challenges presented by the digital world are needed to ensure that this issue does not severely hamper economic growth."
The report discusses the history of copyright law and says that industry adopted to and, in fact, was strengthened by the player piano, the phonograph, radio, and the VCR." Those who have been around long enough will remember how vigorously the record companies resisted investment in manufacturing facilities for the Compact Disc. They, in fact, resisted so hard that many wound up being sold to early investors in the new technology, that is foreign-based record firms. I well remember loud screams to the effect that there was no need to invest in such high-quality record-making because consumers wouldn't pay more for the CD than they were paying for the LP. And some in the industry even claimed that consumers ought not have recordings of such quality, as they would only use them to make and sell copies, and never buy them or listen to them. I suspect that the record company guys don't listen. And yet the CD and now the DVD are great success stories. Jerry Del Colliano, Publisher and principal writer of his web-zine AudioRevolution.com, reports in his March 3rd edition, that the rock band Metallica is going to sell MP3s of each live show. His cited source is the band's website, www.livemetallica.com. Writes Jerry: "No band has taken (or perhaps deserved) more fan criticism for their stance on peer-to-peer file sharing than Metallica. In a move starting in April and clearly designed to restore some of the band's lost good faith with its most hardcore fans, Metallica will now record and sell live versions of each of their concerts for $9.95 in MP3 formats and $12.95 for FLAC files.
"The band's outspoken drummer, Lars Ulrich, is quoted on LiveMetallica.com saying 'This is the next logical step in a process that began back in 1991 when we first implemented the Taper Section at our shows, where our fans were encouraged to bring in their own gear to record the show, and then take home their very own bootleg of the concert they had just seen. This technology will enable our fans to get the best possible recording of the show, without having to hold a microphone in the air for the entire night!'
"The most serious fans can pre-order 34 shows before they are happen which allows the band a creative new way to make significant new revenues from their most enthusiastic fans each and every night of a tour. At the same time the band continues to try to outfox illegal bootleggers by taking their products directly to their customers. "As a business, this move is likely to be a smash hit. Yet on another level, if the band wants to repair burnt bridges with more of their fans, they might find a way to record a studio album that is also a hit. Their St. Anger album, featuring their producer playing bass for much of the record, is considered to be one of rock's worst studio records ever - up there with Van Halen III."I wonder if they are using those 320,000 names and e-mail addresses that they sued Napster for to prime this pump. Wouldn't it be interesting if that had been their business plan all along?
