Art, re some of your points;
what I fail to understand is why people think they might have a right to get it free.
Many reasons. Because they can probably being number one. Please dont read this as support (or not) for such a position, merely a statement of fact. Other reasons for downloading free music include; try before you buy; I only want one track dammed if I'll buy all 10 for $18; I wouldnt buy it at that price so the company isnt actually losing money anyway, the record company isnt paying royalty (or only a derisory amount) to the artist* so why should I worry about screwing the company, I already bought it on LP I dont see them offering me a discount for the CD since I paid for the copyright already, etc.
If I want to download a music selection, seems to me that paying a nominal fee per selection, such as a dollar, would not be outlandish, nor would it be difficult to maintain an account that would periodically charge my credit card for such services.
I agree, and quite possibly, many people would also feel the same way. Problem is, record companies dont want to sell you one song for a dollar, they want to sell you 10 for $18, with no middle way.( Probably on the grounds that people would only buy the 2 or 3 they want and not the other 7 or 8 'fillers'.)
Downloading of music selections, or eventually books and full length movies looks like a more profitable and lower cost way of doing business. If you buy
only the selections you want, rather than the total number that would be on a CD, it's going to cost less in terms of copyrighted material, and the
publisher can eliminate the cost of the CD, the cost of packaging, and the middleman profits from the retailer. The consumer can get the music without
even leaving home, saving money on travel, postage, and other costs.
Do you see any evidence of that? Or do you instead see companies talking about pay per view, monitoring what you watch/listen to, treating you as a criminal, having your music system dial back into their database and checking you can listen, making it difficult/impossible to do things such as take a copy for your car stereo, etc.
So tell me again, why is it considered too difficult to make a simple download using a simple and secure mechanism for debiting your account?
Because (1), there is no such mechanism as of yet, (2) when discussing such possible mechanisms, record companies scare the bejeesus out of everyone by talking about doing things such as monitoring what you listen to/watch and charging you on a pay-per-view basis, (3) most people dont trust big corporations given an ongoing ability to take money from your account (either on a paranoia or screw-up basis).
Tumbleweed
* I know of several recent cases of re-issues of 60's and 70's albums on CD where the artists is getting absolutely no royalties at all from the reissue. In fact, the first they even knew of the reissue was when they saw them on sale in Tower records! Lets not feel to sorry for them. The main should be is how to recompense the artists. |
