[CLUE-Talk] Hatch Takes Aim at Illegal Downloading

[Matt Gushee]

On Thu, Jun 19, 2003 at 10:35:47AM -0600, Jeffery Cann wrote:
> On Wednesday 18 June 2003 10:38 am, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:
> > What really burns me is that the music industry absolutely refuses to
> > address the real problem -- CDs are priced far too damn high for what
> > they are. 
> 
> One reason I like the .99 / song Apple implementation of digital music.  
> Hopefully, it will catch on.  I would personally spend a lot more money if I 
> were able to download the songs I want from an artist w/o additional 'filler' 
> that you get with CDs.

You know, I've thought for some time that there should be tremendous
opportunity for new entertainment companies with more sensible business
models. I mean, if there were a record company that made a point of
giving both artists and consumers a better deal, wouldn't people
naturally gravitate to it? But for some reason it doesn't seem to
happen. I can think of several obstacles:

  - nobody can start a new record company because it takes too much
    capital.
  - in order to make money, you have to have a few established artists,
    but they're mostly signed with the major labels already.
  - laws that favor existing companies?

But I wonder which one of these is crucial ... or is it just the
combination of all of them?

-- 
Matt Gushee                 When a nation follows the Way,
Englewood, Colorado, USA    Horses bear manure through
mgushee at havenrock.com           its fields;
http://www.havenrock.com/   When a nation ignores the Way,
                            Horses bear soldiers through
                                its streets.
                                
                            --Lao Tzu (Peter Merel, trans.)