Fallout from the Internet Debacle

gatesh8r writes "This article off of Janis Ian's site lashes out at the RIAA for "wanting to control everything that the consumer will purchase" and then proposes some mild and thoughtful solutions to the problem. Nice to see an artist write up something like this." This is her follow-up to her earlier piece.

Comments

Bravo, Janis.

[wirefarm]

Those of us over 30 certainly know her stuff, the old stuff anyway, but I wonder how well-known she was to younger people before this.
She's got downloads of her stuff on the site, without any DRM nonsense attached. Bravo.
She's been on Daypop's blogging top 40 for weeks - by sheer cluefulness, she's probably expanded her audience considerably. She's honest and open and candid. She speaks as one who's seen every aspect of the business since starting as a 15 year old with a controvercial song, way back when.
I would guess that I won't be the only one paying a lot more attention to what she says.

Any chance we can get her to run for Senator?

Cheers,
Jim in Tokyo

Re:Too early in the morning to be this cynical

[daoine]

I think the whole point was that the 'experiment' per say would be out-of-print catalogs only. So let's be a little realistic; these catalogs are making *NO* money right now. You can't buy 'em.

Personally, there's about 10 albums that I'm hunting down that are out of print. I couldn't find them in completion on Napster even at its best. Instead, my current attempts consist of the half.com and amazon.com used pre-orders in the hopes that someone shows up to sell it. I've gotten 1.

If I could grab the rest at .25 a song I wouldn't think twice. Hunting down a song on a P2P network is easy. Hunting down several albums worth is a pain in the ass, especially if you want them all at the same rate.

Of course, there will be people who set up P2P networks, just as people copied tapes. But the fact is, nobody has ever had cheap, searchable, and complete access to the catalogs - they'd get about $20 from me in 1 day. And that's just from what I know I'm missing...

Re:Sell CDs with tons of MP3s

[goldspider]

I really don't see what they'd have to gain by this. First of all, the recording industry by default sees mp3s as a Bad Thing (TM). They wouldn't want to conveniently sell their product in a format that makes it easier to copy/share/pirate/etc. Secondly, why would they sell 150 tracks on a single CD for $20 when they can get away with selling only 15 tracks on a single CD for $20?

From our point of view it would be really nice, for sure. Bur from a business perspective, the industry would be shooting itself in the foot.

Re:I bought CDs until...

[nolife]

Examples
Pink Floyd "Pulse" from amazon.com

Pulse Hi-Fi VHS(not on DVD yet) - $21.99

Pulse Audio CD - $28.99

Same concert, same songs. The video has extra stuff at the end and of course, VIDEO to watch!

I wonder why it has not been released on DVD yet? I have a conspiracy theory if you want to here it.

How about "The Wall" Granted, the movie is closely related to the album but not really in standard song format throughout.

Audio CD - $27.99

DVD Movie - $27.99