(antiMusic) So the major labels (and Metallica) fought digital as long as they could, then comes along Apple to convince them it would be good for business to stay up with the times. Seems the labels were wrong and Steve Jobs was right. Nielsen SoundScan numbers indicate that sales of digital albums jumped 126 percent for the first half of 2006 and digital singles climbed 77 percent. All of that money could have been lost, but they would have made a few thousand from suing granny for downloading that Fiddy Cent song.
On the other side of the coin, physical album sales are down. Sales dropped 4.3 percent for the first half of 2006 compared to the same period last year. Must be the plastic cases that are doing it!
Rant or Rave? Your turn, post your comments and thoughts on this news item. But hey keep it clean, we wouldn't want to have to wash your mouth out with Old Spice.
Posted by I guess this makes me a mediator:
"previous poster" and "SmarterThan"... you're both missing the point.
First of all, ST, while I give you credit for making the (entirely valid) point that iTunes is really what everyone wanted. But you make two mistakes; 1) there are parts of your argument (mostly the moniker you chose) that make you come off as pompous, and 2) you're belittling the methods the music industry (and, yes, Metallica, if we still feel the need to drag them into it) used to fight piracy, whether their eventual position is justified or not.
pp, don't act like you're much better. First off, for just one second, ignore the lawsuits against downloaders. You point out that ST was being pompous, yet you resort to name calling and blind use of the word 'ignorant' (believe it or not, tape trading has precious little in common with the issue at hand- we're not talking about fuzzy bootlegs here, we're talking about full quality album tracks). Don't pretend like the battle over Napster/illegal downloading was an effort "to kill digital music" as you say. That you would label it as such shows your great misunderstanding of what the issue really was. Did money play into it? Sure, to an extent. But it's not as if pop music is public domain. Lars' statement of feeling like the music has been "hijacked" is quite apt.
Now, on to the lawsuits. My agreeing with you, pp, is mostly on the contention that the industry (and Metallica, since we're dragging them- but interestingly not the other artists who supported them- through the mud here) chose pretty tactless methods of fighting piracy. I think you'll find that ST actually agrees with you here, if you choose to read his/her post carefully. Does suing children, moronic hipsters and people who don't know who wrote "Everlong" accomplish what needed to be accomplished? No. Granted, if the industry didn't play hardball in some way, it's likely that piracy would have won out. But the lawsuits were not tactful at all and really did hurt their cause- so much so that people like you still hold it against them.
I personally will give Steve Jobs a lot of credit for helping to solve the bulk of the digital crisis by creating a viable marketplace for downloaded music. But let's not pretend like this isn't what the suits at the labels (and the artists against piracy) wanted all along.
Posted by previous poster not too bright:
"until iTunes came along" isn't that the point idiot? Instead of creating something like iTunes the industry spent years trying to kill digital music. Metallica were the ultimate hypocrites as a band that got their early following from tape traders are now all about the cash. Go on ignore history and be ignorant. P.S. 9 out of 10 times those that label themselves "smart" are in fact stupid. The previous posts are a case in point.
Posted by SmarterThanWhomever...:
I apologize for some of the grammatical errors in my post. This comment format is really geared for smaller posts that don't require any editing or review. I'm sure most mistakes you can derive my intention, but I should note one change I wish I could make:
In the third paragraph, "you do it to them to..." should read: "you owe it to them to..."
Posted by SmarterThanWhomeverWroteThisDrudge:
It would seem to me that the major gripe from the industry was not with the technology but the means with which it could be distributed. Digital music is such an easily pirated format that there is no surprise that it initially met opposition until methods of distribution such as iTunes came along.
Granted, the lawsuits were unneccesary and quite coldhearted. Their backs may have been held up against the wall by an exponentially growing issue, but that was no way to react. Even still, keep in mind that what the industry wanted and needed all along was what it got: iTunes and a digital market that has turned into a win-win situation for everyone.
And again, you single out Metallica... at the very least you ought to give them credit for having the courage to actually take a stand. Again, feel free to deride the lawsuits, but you do it to them not to deride them for what they trying to stand for. Also to their credit is that Metallica has now embraced the digital medium about as well as anyone else. They now offer almost all of their recent shows for paid download in addition to shows from various points in their history for free.
It's not 2001 any longer. The industry, Metallica, and the public have seemingly stepped forward into a time where the digital media is no longer a crisis that needs to be dealt with. Perhaps you should do the same.
