I'll Never Buy Another CD
If you've read any of my posts in the past, then you know my strong and sometimes downright militant views towards the RIAA and their greed driven attitudes.
Here's the article from The Register that got me going this time ;)
Well, not that it will make any impression on them I'm sure, but let me just say now that if the iTunes store shuts down or starts charging more than $0.99 a song I will never buy another CD or any music in my life.
Strong remarks, but I'll stand by it. Recently Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) was addressing the music industry's recent push to charge more than $0.99 a song on the iTunes music store. Why? Greed. At least that's what Jobs says and I tend to agree with him.
You don't believe me? Right now, the consumer pays a fair price for legal digital downloads of music. But that's not enough because in America a company is not successful unless it's making MORE profit than the year before. That means cutting costs (how much it takes to make a song) or raising prices or some combination of the two every year. This is over simplified of course, but essentially true.
And these executives are F-ing clueless when it comes to the "mysterious internet" and how to use it to make money. Here's one gem from a music exec:
"It's going to be difficult to get the consumer to stop thinking about owning music, and think about paying for participation instead," said one executive.
Uh, hi... remember me? I just BOUGHT a CD from the store. Are you saying I don't own it, but I merely rented it? I should own the copy of the song that I bought. Sure, sharing is illegal, but if you're going to severely overcharge for a single song or CD, then I'm going to steal.
Yes, I said steal. Oh, but Shane, you're a sinner and will go to hell. Yeah, I'm sure God has a huge Excel spreadsheet and just adding all of us who take a little back from the RIAA who is being blatantly greedy and ripping us off in the first place.
Here's something else that's laughable. Michael Nash, head of Warner Music was quoted as saying...
Very few people people buy music from digital downloads.
I guess when the iTunes music store hit 50 million songs purchased in March of 2004, that was mere pittance? I'd love to sit in on one of their meetings. Anyone at the RIAA want to invite me next time? I'm there.