WARNING! Swearing and emotion ahead. if you’re not human, don’t read on!
Those of you that know me, know that I have strong feelings about this, and if you didn’t know that, you know me well enough to know that I would do :)
I’m going to lay this out simply, with no opinion, and let you come to your own conclusions.
iTunes will now let you encode at “iTunes Plus quality” – great.
I have several hundred CDs- all paid for.
I encoded them, with iTunes, in 2001 – it took *ages*.
They’re encoded at 128kbs – not the best, you can hear the clipping.
Can I convert them to “iTunes Plus Quality”? – well no. How do I prove I own them?
What’s the fucking point? – totally.
I bought that shit. The first time around. And excuse my language, but I’m just having my face rubbed in it. Well look, it’s two thousand and fucking nine, this should be a non-issue.
I paid for the content, not the file.
Let me repeat that with emotional emphasis.. and this should drive home several things.
I *paid* for the *content*.
I really want to reward creativity. That means paying artists for their awesome music, and their time spent sharing it with me.
There is nothing in place to reward *me* for paying them. This may sound stupid.. but this is a huge issue. You (record labels/industry at large) have this all wrong. We are not criminals, but you’re encouraging me to steal from you by not letting me have the things I’ve already paid for.
So.. fuck you. Fuck your business models. I hope you just go away.
Artists… we love you (on the whole). Love us back by enabling us to *pay* for your content.
And don’t think that you TV and film producers and distributers are any fucking different. There’s a reason I openly admit to downloading Battlestar Galactica. It’s because I *really* like it! But it’s aired a week later in the UK, which is basically inviting me to download it on a Saturday morning from the US (including Sci-Fi channel overlays, I don’t care if they’re there.. just like I don’t care if there are messages about the Oscars on films I download.). I like it that fucking much, a few days matters!
We want your content. Your content is good.
But enable us to reward your creatives appropriately. Seriously.
You’re not helping your industries, which we like, by clawing on to the behaviour that, let’s face it, fucked you into the position you’re in now.
Comment by Dan Wilson
March 14, 2009 @ 4:13 am
Well, bloody yes. I still buy CDs because somehow, and utterly absurdly, I feel like I do actually own the songs on them. I have a shiny disc. Noone can take them away from me. (Except burglars and ex-girlfriends.)
For the first time in three years I’m transferring my iTunes library from one machine to another and the real thorn in the side in this process has been the purchased songs from the iTunes store. I have had to log in, approve, agree, click this and that for it to work on my new machine.
Leaving me to shout: BUT I’VE PAID MY 79p!
Comment by Nick Taylor
March 14, 2009 @ 4:45 am
I think the idea that you’re buying information rather than a physical artefact is unique to music – and probably wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the cassette tape.
I mean if you buy a lawnmower (I’m not saying you would like, but hypothetically, if you did) would you think that you then “owned” a copy of the design and then had a right to duplicate it in any media that you saw fit?
Maybe. Probably not.
Personally, I think they’re fucked – though for a different reason:
To paraphrase Clay Shirkey : [the music biz] solved the problem of proliferating/distributing musical culture all over the planet. This is no longer a problem…
… so now their attempts to legislate/litigate their relevance in stone, has meant that THEY are the problem. They are the main thing impeding the proliferation/distribution of culture.
Trouble for them is, this new medium is basically a massive experiment in AI – and if a piece of information isn’t linked to, it loses relevance and audience. Linking is the new radio (which previously they paid through the nose for)… so not only is the music biz’s old business model now obsolete, it’s actually diametrically oppositional to what is required to exist and thrive in the new medium.
We participate in our culture by sharing it. Period. If music isn’t being shared, it isn’t being heard.
They’re fucked, and because they’ve acted like cunts, nobody cares.
ps: Don’t worry about artists. Artists will be fine… or as fine as they ever are. The Internet is certainly a hell of a lot better than feudalism of the 20th century system… and this I know from hard-earned experience.
Comment by Robo
March 14, 2009 @ 5:26 am
I utterly agree. Local networks in NZ do all sorts of crap like delaying shows, hiding them at 11pm or 3pm on a Saturday, then they pull it because nobody watches.
I download it and get to watch it when I damn well want.
As for format changes, what about VHS to DVD. How many movies did you “own on VHS” only to biff them when the VCR died?
Worse still, a legit DVD can completely suck with forced adverts and no skip to titles, you are actually better off with a deprotected duplicate. How clever is it that the mug that buys the real thing has a lesser product?
Worse still, you get an avi version of a movie, and you can fit like five or six on a DVD. Sure, there’s no chapter skipping but other than that your shelf ends up way less cluttered.
Comment by Mike Ashworth
March 14, 2009 @ 10:43 am
they think control of content is the answer and it’s not, the world has changed.
They may need to look for revenue streams elsewhere.
this might amuse you
http://www.piratesprisons.com/
Comment by Dominic Travers
March 14, 2009 @ 11:58 am
Spot on post Josh.
I know it will be a lot of work, but re-rip your CD’s to .wav or .aiff depending on your preference for OS. Storage is cheap. Then download Audacity and the MP3 exporter and you can control the quality. I have been using a mac for 7 years now, and hate iTunes with a passion. If you want to do anything interesting with music on a computer it should be avoided like the plague.
If everyone makes it a personal policy to only buy music from stores selling non DRM high bit rate product perhaps change will accelerate.
Comment by Wavey Davey
March 14, 2009 @ 1:36 pm
I haven’t yet ‘bought’ a track from iTunes or elsewhere because of all the reasons you said. Instead I rent them which has nearly all the same issues. Figuring that I had too many CDs already a monthly fee to Napster gave me access to nearly all the music I wanted, and I could transfer it to my Nokia and my Creative and enjoy new releases, classics and investigate artists portfolios all while making sure that they get paid something for their creativity. This was particularly important for new artists, IMHO, who probably don’t have as easy a ride in getting paid compared to artists of the 90’s and before.
Then I bought an iPhone (yeah I know I’m sorry). Once again, because of DRM, I can’t play my Napster tracks on my main portable device and I’m not getting the service I’m paying for. Playing tracks of a PCs tiny tinny speakers just doesn’t cut it and I don’t want to buy MP3/AACs because the quality (even at 320Kps) Isn’t all that, and I still think technology, hardware failures and incompatibility issues all make them a risk to purchase.
My solution at present? If I really like a band I’m back to buying CDs.
Thanks for a great post
http://beingwaveydavey.blogspot.com/
Comment by Adam
March 16, 2009 @ 2:53 am
Aren’t you contradicting yourself rather massively there? You want to reward artists and feel that the tv and film industry should be viewed in the same light as the music industry? I’m with you so far. You’re justifying stealing BSG by pointing out that it’s aired a week later in the UK than in the US… Er, what? We haven’t yet reached the point where content (with production costs like BSG has) can be streamed simultaneously around the globe as, inevitably it needs to fit into scheduling gaps, adverts have to be sold to give us this content for “free” etc etc. I’m no saint when it comes to torrenting but I just don’t understand how you are supporting your own point by mentioning it.
And to those advocates of CDs over iTunes I’d add that Apple will replace all music purchased from the iTunes store if you lose it due to a hardware failure or for whatever reason. I’d wish you the very best of luck getting HMV etc to replace a lost CD collection.