About DRM protected music that you have purchased

[SlumpBuster]

Sorry for the long response, but I got on a roll.

Nod, Slump,

That's just the problem, CDs are going away.

I don't know that that is necessarily going to happen, however, I might be wrong. Unlike cassettes, CD are a portable hi-rez format and thus likely to have much more staying power. Just as boomers still listen to their LPs and 45s, Gen-X (i.e. people like me) will be using and buying CDs for at least a couple more decades.

At what point will you care?

I don't think its that we don't care. Rather, I think both of us are proposing a market solution: if you don't like it, don't buy it and the market will respond. Frankly, I do care, so I stopped buying CDs and I stopped downloading music after Napster got shut down.

But, to be pissed about DRM is to miss the point about what you should really be concerned about, the Long Slow Death of Rock Music, or the fact that there is less and less good music to buy, rather than what you can and can't do with the music once you buy it.

Accordingly, these are the things I am pissed about before DRM:

1. 1996 Telecommunications Act - This is the granddaddy that started it all. This is the act that essentially deregulated ownership of broadcast outlets. Monopolies and Duopolies are the flavor of the day in many markets now. In 1989, 33 different singles topped the Bill Board Hot 100 in the 52 week year. In 2005, 9 different singles topped the Hot 100 in the 52 week year. More songs went to number one in 1989 than in 2003, 2004 and 2005 combined.


2. The Death of Rock Radio - Many markets no longer have a rock radio format thanks to the 1996 Telecom Act. This kills the chance for rock artists to develop. Regardless of anyones likes or dislikes of rock music, it undeniably forms the backbone of modern popular music. Rock music was the first genre that separated "what the kids were listenitng to" from what "the parents were listening to." Prior to the post-war rise of rock and roll, kids and parents listened to the same popular artists. Rock forms the "us" vs. "them" foundation of modern pop music. It guarentees that I will never like My Chemical Romance like my 15 year old niece does; and she will never like Oasis like I do; and I will never like the Beatles like my mother does. American Idol on the otherhand is premised upon all three age groupes liking something about Clay Aiken. I went to some top 40 concert last summer with like Nelly, Ciara, ect. and there were groups of 3 generations all over the place. On the other hand, nobody takes their grandma or their kids to a Tool concert.

3. The continued perpetuation of racial stereotypes by the Music Industry- This one's controversial. To paraphrase Ice-T "Rock and Roll is black music." Some people criticize rock and roll and jazz as having been misappropriated or stolen by white artists. Critics often cite Pat Boone's white bread Little Richard covers or Elvis's sanitized version of "Hound Dog" as examples. I disagree. I think rock and roll and jazz are universal art forms that are not secondary to someone's ethnicty.
However, hip-hop is an art form that the industry has generally denied to white artists. White hip-hop artists end up being exceptions (Emimem), sideshows (ICP), also rans (Rap Rock), or genre hoppers (Kid Rock).
It's a crying shame that "great hip-hop that could have been" has been denied to fans because the industry does not want to expand the definition of what a hip-hop artist looks like. Given that hip-hop has long ecliped rock as the dominant commercial genre, the industry owes it to the fans and itself to be more inclusive in its artist development and marketing. Good hip hop should not be denied simply because the artist is white, or Indian, or Chinese, or Latino.
One of the radio stations in my area (and I assume there's one in every market) has the tag line "All of today's best hits, without the rap." The disdain is apparent when the deejay says "rap." To which I respond, "Oops, you're racist." I don't hear Adult Contemp. satation adverting "Today's best hits, without all the crunchy guitars." No, the industry just has to keep reminding you that rap is for black artists only.

4. Music Industry Consolidtion: Around the time of the 1996 Telecom Act, the music industry went through a massive consolidation. Lables were closed down wholesale and the artist rosters were gutted without remorse. Gold records were no longer the goal, platinum records were required to keep the companies in the black. At the time, the music press was predicting that this was the worst thing to happen to pop music. I remember Kurt Loder going into seizures about how this would be death of music as we new it. I think he was right. Suits managing the music biz is a bad idea. Combine that with lack of radio outlets and you have records by Paris Hilton, K-Fed, and that chick from the Soprano's wasting space. Something rings hollow when I hear a radio dejay talk about how you would never catch them playing Hilton's record just before they go into the new Pussy Cat Dolls joint.

5. The Myth that Downloading Killed the Industry: The industry was on its way down before Napster. It has failed to adopt almost any workable model. You can't download without a credit card. Kids don't have credit cards. So, they go to Best Buy to buy a debit card with cash, and walk past a rack of CDs. How does that make sense?
Also, I've never been much for downloading since Napster got shut down and the RIAA started suing little girls. "F@ck that noise." Also, I can't get past the lack of a physical tangible thing.

So, did I pick up arms and revolt? or ignore the law and do as I please? No, I stopped buying major lable CDs. The last straw for me was Sony's Rootkit fiasco last year. http://businessweek.com/technology/c...122_343542.htm
I got one of the disks with the rootkit on it. Thankfully the story blew up before I ripped it on any computer, but what if I had put it on a work computer? How am I supposed to explain that? "Yeah, the reason we've been shut down the last couple days is because I needed a DMB fix."

So what do I buy instead. LPs, independant lable CDs, CDs at the Merch Table at concerts, and only the occasional major lable. Its somewhat easy for me, because there is not alot that I want that is for sale at Target or BestBuy. But for most of my life I was a very good customer of the industry. Every friday afternoon since I was 15 was spent going to the record store for the new releases. Not so much these days. I still go every weekend, but I now I end up with a stack of LPs and used CDs rather than the hottest new releases.

The more people that stop buying the crap forced on them, the more quickly the industry will respond. K-fed can't tour if he only moves 3000 copies, and DRM can't survive if no one buys it. Don't believe me? Go try and buy a PSP movie at Target this weekend. You can't because they have been removed from the shelves for lack of sales. Artists have already begun to respond. I can still get all my favorite new releases, they are probably just on the bands new indie lable since they got dropped by the major for only moving 130,000 units of the last release.

Anyway, there ya go.

[Feanor]

...
I don't know that that is necessarily going to happen, however, I might be wrong. Unlike cassettes, CD are a portable hi-rez format and thus likely to have much more staying power. Just as boomers still listen to their LPs and 45s, Gen-X (i.e. people like me) will be using and buying CDs for at least a couple more decades.
...
Anyway, there ya go.

I've been reading Grammophone's Awards 2006 issue. You'd never suspect that classical music was dead, CDs were on their way out -- or SACDs a flash in the pan for that matter. And as for racism, well, you'd never guess that classical was "dead white men's" music either.