Ok, can you take another survey? This is a new one on me. Seems like in the year 2004 that darn near a full third of music obtained by fans was via our old friend the writable CD. This has the music industry doing what they do best...worrying. In fact, on Friday they couldn't hold it inside any longer, now they are complaining that music copied onto blank recordable CDs is becoming a bigger threat to the bottom line of record stores and music labels than online file-sharing. Here's what Mitch Brainwol, head honcho over at the Recording Industry Association of America was heard saying about it:
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Copy protection technology "is an answer to the problem that clearly the marketplace is going to see more of," he added. Album sales in the North America are down about 7 percent this year compared with a year ago, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Yet the recording industry has seen a lift from online music sales, which when factored in with album and sales of CD singles increased overall music sales through July to 21 percent over last year. The focus on CD burning Friday was welcomed by Alayna Hill-Alderman, who said she has seen music CD sales slide in recent years while sales of blank recordable CDs have soared. "We are feeling the decline in our store sales, especially with regard to R&B and the hip-hop world," said Hill-Alderman, co-owner of Record Archive, a two-store company operating in Rochester, N.Y. "It's all due to burning. We've lost tremendous amounts of those sales to flea markets and bodegas." After experimenting with copy-protected CDs in Europe and Latin America in recent years, some record labels have begun releasing albums in North America with similar copy restrictions. The CDs typically allow users to burn no more than a handful of copies. |
So, it' all due to burning and copy protection is the answer to this phenomena, case closed. One has to wonder if adding a troublesome layer of protections will ultimately lead to even less sales if it get's around that CD music has been hamstrung, sending customers fleeing from record stores in disgust.
When will these executives wake up and smell the coffee that we don't sit in
the house tethered to a wall outlet to hear our music anymore? Plus, you can't
get somehing for nothing, at least this is the mantra the RIAA keeps
pounding into our heads, so who is going to pay for this added protection? Not
me, I think it's back to the drawing board boys. I'll spend my money
elsewhere until you sort this out some other way. By the way, any new and
different talent coming our way in the near future? Maybe you have milked
R&B and 'hip-hop' for all it's worth and this is why sales are slipping,
only so many words rhyme with "bitch"!
Source: AP News My Way
