The Holy War on MP3s

Summer of 2003 — welcome to the holy war on MP3s.

The amount of hype and noise going on right now is incredible.

The RIAA served 871 supoenas Friday to track down “low-end” file traders.

Moron politicos are suggesting “cures” ranging from destroying file trader’s computers to prison sentences more severe than you’d be liable to get if you held up a music store with a handgun.

The music industry is purposing that the FBI be sent out after file traders, on the taxpayer’s nickle.

I’ve even seen newscasts showing screenshots of Kazaa, and claiming that downloading music is “helping the terrorists win”. (Obviously the original point was that buying pirated material finances somebody, maybe even a terrorist or two, but last I knew you didn’t buy music on peer to peer file trading services — ain’t that the point of the gripe?)

And of course, all because the nasty file traders are costing the music industry money. After all, profits on CD sales have declined steadily since 1999.

It’s hard not to be sympathetic — I picture some poor recording industry exec breakfasting on his Malibu terrace, having to drink his Crystale mimosas with store-bought orange juice rather than hand-sqeezed.

I mean damn, things are tough all over.

But wait a minute.

In an article in Sound and Vision Magazine we find some rather interesting numbers.

In those same last years that those nasty downloaders have reduced CD sales by 8% - 10%, it seems that average CD prices (excluding promo CDs)have gone up to a whopping $17.09, up from $14.23 in 2001, and from $12.05 way back in 1990.

Now I can’t imagine how THAT could have effected sales. I mean, raising prices in a period where some of us where scraping the inside of the damn icebox to find dinner couldn’t have made a difference.

Oh, and of course new releases dropped 25% between 1999 and 2001, and 14% more in 2002. But we all LIKE to buy the same old crap over and over, that couldn’t have mattered.

It must have been those damn rotten downloaders.

Fucking puh-lease.

The audacity of this bunch is beyond belief.

“Let’s blow up those damn dirty downloader’s computers, toss ‘em in jail for a bazillion years, and tattoo “Terrorist Lover” on their forehead. Maybe that’ll let us squeeze a few last bucks out of the pockets of the artists before we cut their meager earnings enough that they all sober up and figure out how to attach a noose to a palm tree and string us all up.”

—

Screw ‘em.

I’ve got enough MP3s in my collection to last me for a few years of no new music. The vast majority of which are my own rips, from CDs I have in boxes in the closet where they won’t get scratched. Sure, I’ve actually downloaded the occasional song in the last few years, normally to be followed by buying the damn CD if I liked it (since I like my own rips better than most I can download), and assuming it’s actually a title one can purchase (my taste seems a little more diverse than the actual release list).

But I’ve probably bought my last CD in a good long while, unless it’s from a label that doesn’t put money in the RIAA’s coffers. I’ll be damned if I’ll continue to finance these people.

I can live with last year’s music for a few more years, and I’d bet every one of you out there can too. Let’s see if they can live on last year’s profits as easily.