The problem with legal online music

[andrewducker]

The problem is that they don't know what it is they're selling.

Either it's:

1) An analogue to a physical object (like a CD) in which case I should be able to move it around, listen to it wherever I like, take it apart, etc.

2) A license to listen to a particular song on my computer. In which case I should be able to re-download it if my hard drive crashes, because I've already bought the license - the actual music file itself isn't relevant except as a way of using my license.

The music companies are currently going for joined limitations of both views - a music file that's tied to my computer, gets lost in a hard drive crash and locked against tampering.

Sorry, not interested. I'll happily sign up for either an Emusic.com type of service (if they had a much larger selection) or a radio service that provides me with whatever music I like, on demand.

I can't think of anything else that would get my money.

Comments

[allorin.livejournal.com]

Ooh - well said. That's a bloody good description of the online music business as it stands.

[thepaintedone.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there are plenty of precidents in real life which can be made to apply, I've no doubt the legality of it will be sorted fairly soon.

The main problem is that is so damn easy to circumvent. If digital music could be easily and securly protected, or at least to the level where the average punter cant do it, the legality wounldnt be a problem.

The problem is that anyone can burn a CD to MP3 and once on an MP3 its trivial to distribute widely. People have an instinctive negative reaction to paying for something they can get for free, whether or not the free version is actualy legal.

There is also a problem with making laws that are patently unenforcable, which is why hands free sets were excluded from the recent mobile phone legislation.

I think in the not distant future the technology will be such that 99 percent of the audience wont be able to circumvent it, and then it'll take off more.

As for whether you'll buy into it, I'll ask you again when your favorite artist releases thier new album only on digital format :o) I used to be staunchly against Livejournal, until every bugger in christendom got one.

[diffrentcolours]

The same problem applies to physical media music as well, though. We're told that the ridiculous mark-up on CDs from their cost of production is because we're paying for the material, and yet should (for example) our CD become scratched, we cannot have a replacement for cost even if we prove our original purchase.

Also, in terms of physical media, you pay for your own copy of the information - I can legally back up a CD I own to CD-R or ogg or whatever, but I cannot replace a CD I have purchased with a copy of somebody else's legally purchased copy of the same CD, nor legally download the same tracks that I've paid for from the Internet.

I don't think we're going to get any consensus in online music until we get a consensus on meatspace music, and I don't think we're going to get that while the current ambiguity is generating more profits for the record industry.

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

One problem I have with the concept of legalized downloading is that they completely overlook the fun aspect.

I enjoy going online, hunting down what I am looking for, negotiating for what I want, meeting people while I'm doing it, and sometimes downloading (and enjoying) things I never considered, because someone offered it in trade.

I would happily pay a low monthly fee to be able to do this in peace.

I will not, however, pay a high fee ($1.49 for a single song at Sony) to simply download a single song, which I then have to take my time to download, pay Internet fees, take space on my hard drive, and take further time and investment if I want to burn it to CD. Not to mention that if I want something not owned by Sony, I have to go to a different site.

Sorry, that sucks. No way.

And also

[nosrialleon.livejournal.com]

I'm not willing to pay for a lossy-compressed file.
If I'm paying money, I want at least 16-bit 44100 samples/second.
And I am not now nor have I ever been a 'singles' consumer. I always buy whole albums.