Why I Love the Interwebs - Chapter I
So I'm at the gym tonight jogging on the treadmill. I'm a big dude, so this is a miracle within itself. At least I had my trusty Zune to get me through the workout, right?. Well, not really.
For all you Apple fanboys, just chill out for a sec and listen; I bought the Zune at Christmas from Amazon for $90. The first pain was that I couldn't listen to any of my previously purchased iTunes music on it unless I first burnt all the tracks to a CD then ripped it down and added it to the Zune library manually. Why do I have to go through this laborious task for music I already purchased?
Anyway, I opted to by the Zune Pass for $15/month which gives me unlimited listening to any song with any participating record company. This has been a decent option for me because I have been able to sample a lot of different music that I wouldn't normally purchase. Well, the catch is that all the music expires as soon as you cancel your monthly membership. When your Zune is hooked up to the PC, it can connect online to renew your music licenses.
Well, that brings me back to tonight. As I'm jogging along with ease (yeah right), and I am about 5 minutes into my run, I get a message saying all my music was expired and I couldn't listen to any of it. I have been traveling a lot in the last couple of weeks, so I haven't actually had it hooked up to my PC to allow it to renew the licenses. Well, this sure is a rude way to interrupt my workout. I was pissed and had to finish up with no music.
So, let me ask you. Why in the heck do I have to go through all this DRM crap for music I have already purchased? I can't listen to it except on the device that I purchased it on originally, and when I pay monthly, I have to worry about stupid expiring licenses.
This is what brings me to this first chapter of Why I Love the Interwebs. Today, Radiohead released their new album In Rainbows as a digital download from their site. Freed from any record label contracts, they leave it up to you to put in a fair price.
On October 8, Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, made this announcement on his website.
Hello everyone. I've waited a LONG time to be able to make the
following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally
free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have
been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the
business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very
different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a
direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate.
Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008.
Exciting times, indeed.
This is the power of the Internet. Welcome to the cluetrain. Without traditional barriers of connection and communication, the global conversation no longer needs a useless middle man. Record labels and their desperate grasp of DRM is archaic and outdated. Music companies are holding on to something that is destined to fail. The Internet brings in a new world where there are direct conversations. If you don't bring value, then get out of the game.
To kickstart the revolution, it will take a few big names to stand up for what is right. For this, I salute you Radiohead and NIN. You are visionaries and you are my heroes. Now excuse me, while I first go support these guys and then head over to lastfm and pandora.
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October 11th, 2007 at 12:36 am
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October 11th, 2007 at 2:58 am
get a radio! (work it out)
October 11th, 2007 at 8:13 am
@Frank - what's this thing called radio you speak of?
October 11th, 2007 at 8:39 am
… I run music free
this weekend planing for a Staten Island Half-Marathon . But going back to your blog, it's much easier for Radiohead and NIN to go without a record label, they already have established their name and don't need any additional promotion from wealthy label companies. But what about an aspiring performer, who is just trying to make his way up, with college loans to pay off and no real job to speak of. While I hate the Stalin-like measures of RIAA and often unfair treatment of the artists by the record labels, historically the importance of the middle man can not be underplayed, it is the middle man that took the chance and invested its money into a potentially profitable venture … sometimes he failed often succeeded. But most performance we listen to today wouldn't be known if it wasn't for the willingness of a middle man to take a risk.
October 11th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Eddie,
First off…..nice job on getting to the gym. I know it's a struggle to actually make it part of a routine, especially when travelling for work. Also remember the Zune actually does have a radio built in so you should be good there.
I agree with you on the DRM crap. I'm super happy about the RadioHead stuff but even more happy with AmazonMP3 moving into the space. Awhile back I vowed to rid DRM from my media and thus when I purchase songs I burn and rip them back. It sux! but it sux less than being strapped by DRM.
Let's grab some lunch soon. I know biz wise things have stalled a little but I'm up for grabbing a brew when you and Dan are free. Drop me an email: kurt(AT_NOSPAM)brockett.net
Kurt
October 11th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
@Aleks - agreed that it is much easier for groups like Radiohead and NIN because they have already built up a fan base. However, I don't necessarily agree that we still need record labels to "invest money into a potentially profitable venture." In the prewebistoric days(this term yields no google search results, so I hereby claim coinage :)), we needed the middle man to connect us to upcoming artists. This was the easiest path of connection for entertainers and consumers. However, in the current Net global market, this is becoming less and less relevant. There are now plenty of ways for indie artists to get their name out and connect with an audience. We no longer have to rely on some corporate fat cat to tell us what is good or not good. We can now make decisions solely on the art itself.
@Kurt - awww yes, I forgot you were a fellow Zuner.
I did indeed forget about the radio last night, since it's a feature that I rarely if ever use. I totally agree and am pretty pumped about Amazon's move into the space as well. And they aren't even charging a 30 cent premium for DRM free music like Apple. I just hope they can get enough song available to set the standards and rid us from the evil for good. I will not be traveling to Palo Alto as much now, but we should still hook up and talk….still looking forward to doing a cool silverlight project together. Also, congrats on the Blendables release!
Cheers,
ewH
October 11th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
I bet people in the music industry thought this would never work. They probably thought they had it all figured out because of what happened once Napster came out and the rest of the P2P networks spawned from it. "CD sales are down" because of the networks. We are losing money. Basically I think they thought that people where evil and don’t want to pay for music. The public argued and said that they only want a few songs and their answer was per song sales but crippling DRM technology came with it. I bet what Radiohead is doing now is biting them in their corporate asses.
Now I bring your attention to this page: http://www.purebuttons.com/pr/ People aren’t evil, and steal from the industry. People are just fed up with having to comply with what the record industry is making them listen to when they buy a CD at an absurd price that someone artificially set. Radiohead’s growing success follows a pretty simple formula. Give the people what they want without restriction, and when they pay make it as transparent as possible. When people see that their contributions to what they like are going to the right hands, they wont care if they pay a premium or not for a song. That value does not exists for them, they feel as if they are funding creativity and not neglecting the creators of their hard earned cash.