Image credit: Toothpaste for Dinner
Considering Billboard is reporting that retailers sold the least amount of albums in Soundscan history last week, I guess I’m still puzzled why the hotshots at the big labels want to increase the lawsuits instead of spending attention and energy fixing their business model.
We discussed a lot of this at my SXSW Panel in March. Although I never post illegal or non-cleared music on Perfect Porridge, I know from my e-mail inbox that the mainstream record industry’s business model is broken, and litigation will not fix it.
Here’s the e-mail from Urie:
I’ve received hundreds of e-mails enthusiastically reacting to my “call to action” at the National Association of Recording Merchandisers convention last month. The music business is facing huge challenges from piracy and theft. Never before in American history has an entire industry been so decimated by illegal behavior. Yet the government has not responded in a meaningful way to help us address this crisis. My call to action is for all of us to become more aggressive in lobbying our government, more outspoken in drawing attention to the problems caused by piracy, and more actively engaged. We cannot win this fight alone.
Governments outside the U.S. are legislating, regulating and playing a prominent role in discussions with ISPs (Internet Service Providers). Sales have dramatically improved in these countries. How is it that the U.S. — with the most successful music community in the world – is not keeping up with places like South Korea, France, the UK and New Zealand?
As I said in my speech, I hope that the industry can negotiate a voluntary deal with the ISPs. We need our government representatives to encourage this. But whether or not we reach a deal with the ISPs, our government needs to know that we’ve got a piracy problem and we need real solutions. To accomplish this, our government needs to hear from all of us, so they know that their constituents are out here. Join me in calling on our elected officials to fight piracy. Please help by forwarding this e-mail to your colleagues, friends — everyone who loves music. And consider enlisting your entire company to help in this fight. Then by clicking on the link below a message will be sent to your representatives in Washington. Help us launch a viral campaign to cut off access to the online sites that are used to steal our music, our property and our jobs. It only takes a second but it can make a tremendous impact.
Sincerely,
Jim Urie
Learn more at www.musicrightsnow.org
Oh boy. Oh boy. Universal is sending out blasts asking for petition help to sue its customers? How misdirected is this industry, anyway?
Here’s what I e-mailed back:
Mr. Urie,
While I don’t condone illegal behavior, why not update your business model instead of suing your customers?
How does suing a Minnesotan single mother of two for $9250 for each of the 24 songs she was accused of sharing improve sales of physical albums and overpriced mp3s? “It says in the Constitution that there should be no undue fines,” Jammie Thomas said in an interview with CNET News.com. “I was just fined (9,000 percent more) than the value of these songs.”
Considering bands are e-mailing music blogs like mine literally hundreds of mp3′s a week — begging me to make them available for free download — do you think this kind of litigation dissuades people from sharing music? It doesn’t.
Why not spend all this time, attention and money on updating the premise (physical purchase of music) upon which your business model is based?
What do you think? Will you sign the petition?
