Digital Music – The Industry Answers
A few weeks ago, the BBC News website asked people to send in questions about Digital Music and they would ask “people in the UK industry” to answer them. The full replies are here, but here are the highlights that are making my blood boil…
Question: Will the price of tracks or albums be reduced with the more cost-effective digital distribution method? You don’t have to manufacture the CD, package it, send it to the distributor/wholesaler, and finally the shops.
Brad Duea, president of Napster:
First, you are correct that with digital distribution the labels have eliminated some of their previous costs associated with physical distribution. However, the labels have incurred some new costs. For example, the costs of encoding the tracks in the various bit rates in which they distribute the songs…
Question: Do you believe people who are buying CDs legally and copying that music to an iPod should be punished – as they are, in fact, breaking the law?
Peter Jamieson, BPI:
Consumers don’t have the right to copy CDs in the UK and never have, and though we’ve never brought action against anyone for private copying, the advent of peer-to-peer and digital distribution has turned the issue on its head. (the average Ipod user has bought 20 tracks from ITMS. Where does Jamieson think the other gigabytes are coming from? Shall we sue them all? – Ewan)
Question: I think there is something wrong in asking people to pay for music they have already bought. You can move a CD from one player to another, and you should be able to do the same with downloaded music as long as it is still for your use. What plans does this industry have to ensure customers are not ripped off?
Steve Knott, HMV:
If you buy a download, you can always burn it to CD and play it wherever and wherever you wish. (See above answer – Ewan)
Question: Given that every single digital rights management (DRM)-protected song on the music download networks is still very easily found on any file-sharing network, what has DRM achieved other than alienating legitimate, legal, paying customers?
John Kennedy, IFPI:
Without DRM, the explosion in the availability of music via digital channels would not have been possible. The purpose of DRM is not to alienate music fans, it is actually to improve your access to music (Gah! – Ewan)Peter Jamieson, BPI:
DRM is the technology which makes all kinds of exciting new ways of listening to music possible. (Jeez! – Ewan)
Question: The music industry is throwing itself wholeheartedly into the prosecution of people it perceives as “stealing” music. Can of the panel place their hands on their hearts and insist, honestly, that they never taped a song off the radio, or from a mate, in their youths?
John Kennedy, IFPI:
You simply aren’t comparing an apple with an apple. [It's] not quite the same as making a compilation for your girlfriend on Valentine’s Day… As it happens, I never did copy music off the radio – I was lucky enough to have a great record collection thanks to my brothers and sisters. (Notice the question of tape to tape copying isn’t answered – Ewan)Peter Jamieson, BPI:
There is a misconception that p2p file-sharing is somehow similar to home taping, but there is a world of difference between recording the Top 40 onto a C90 and distributing perfect digital copies of songs over the internet to millions of people – and that’s exactly what file-sharing is.I’ve certainly never risked a legal bill for thousands of pounds by distributing my music collection to millions over the internet – to do so is to rip off artists and everyone involved in making music. (Notice the question isn’t answered – Ewan)Steve Knott, HMV:
I’m sure many, if not all, of us have taped a song from the radio or burnt a CD. But that’s fine – and it’s not an issue when people make small numbers of copies for their own use. (Draw your own conclusions, but the fair use defence may be useful in areas such as copying your CD to your Ipod – Ewan).Brad Duea, Napster:
Simon, for years I have made compilations – initially vinyl to cassette and now purely digital. Compilations allow me to create my own personalised playlists for all sorts of events. Also, I used to listen to radio and jump to my stereo to record a hot new song. (Yaay. An honest answer – Ewan)
It’s just so frakked up right up, the old mainstream music industry. Will they ever embrace the new?
January 26th, 2006 at 2:39 am
So taping was never a problem… How quickly we forget!
I’ve still got LPs at home with the «Home taping is killing music. And it’s illegal» slogan printed in the sleeve. They’re 20+ years old, and music doesn’t seem to be dead at all after all this time.
I’d rather say that, if anything, P2P networks will make it stronger in the end.
January 26th, 2006 at 3:45 am
Here’s an idea, make some better music and I might be interested. Also if i am going to go on iTunes (or any other music store) and buy a digital track, with no extras, then I best be paying less money for it-especially when it is crippled. Also I think the answer given for the “cost of manufacturing in a digial age” is complete bull. No matter what line they try to feed you in these replies, the cost for distribution of a digital track/cd is a fraction of physically manucacting and shipping disks. Some bigwigs need to sit up and start paying attention, or as we reach a critcal mass they will soon find a revolution on their hands…
January 26th, 2006 at 5:58 am
“encoding the tracks in the various bit rates in which they distribute the songs…”
Extra costs! Pressing a button on a computer screen vs physically moving goods across a country in van charged up with overpriced petrol!
the last question was posed by Simon at No Rock And Roll Fun, he has a comeback on his blog…
http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2006/01/music-industry-responds.html
January 26th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Peter Jamieson, BPI:
Consumers don’t have the right to copy CDs in the UK and never have, and though we’ve never brought action against anyone for private copying
Steve Knott, HMV:
I’m sure many, if not all, of us have taped a song from the radio or burnt a CD. But that’s fine – and it’s not an issue when people make small numbers of copies for their own use.
but the fair use defence may be useful in areas such as copying your CD to your Ipod – Ewan
Look at thre mixed messages here. There is no concept of Fair Use in UK law. When it says “No Unauthorised Copying” it means it. But apparently, fair use does exist in the real world. Mainly because there is no case law as nobody has ever been prosecuted for making copies for their own use. So Ewan, your point is moot in that nobody has ever had to use a defence for copying music to an iPod or for any other personal use copying. And here we have Steve Knott explicitly stating that it’s ok to copy for personal use.
This gets incredibly complicated in the context of downloading and the real lawsuits. What exactly is being charged? It’s always presented as “downloading” that is illegal but it’s actually not that which they are complaining about.
1) Downloading from where? It’s not at all clear what sources are acceptable and what are not. And what if I download from an “illegal” source, music I’ve already bought?
2) If it’s OK to have personal digital copies of music you’ve bought, how are you supposed to prove where they came from? In one of the suits in the USA, it was an acceptable defence to show that most of the music was also owned on CD. So do I have to keep records of every CD and legal download that goes though my house?
3) If it’s making those copies available to others, there should be a stupidity defence. It’s all to easy to share a directory containing copyright music without meaning to.
4) If it’s actual uploading then where is the proof of uploading? And what if the only proof is that the BPI (or whoever) uploaded a song. Isn’t that entrapment?
January 26th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
The most irritating thing in the whole exercise is this.
John Kennedy, IFPI:
Without DRM, the explosion in the availability of music via digital channels would not have been possible. The purpose of DRM is not to alienate music fans, it is actually to improve your access to music
What a wonderfully circular argument. We think DRM is necessary. We wouldn’t allow online legal sites without it. Legal sites make music available for download. Therefore DRM makes legal sites possible. Therefore DRM is necessary.
Gah!
January 26th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
[...] The BBC have put a selection of questions on the subject of digital rights management (DRM) and file sharing to a panel of “top executives” in the music industry. The full set of questions and responses can be found on the BBC website. A selection of the best/worst responses can be found on The Rock Show site. [...]
January 26th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
So, we are all thieving criminal scum. Good, at least I know where I stand now.
I own an iRiver MP3 player, basically a huge chunk of DRM free hard disk space. Everything on there (40GB) is ripped from my CD collection. So once the music industry dies, it was my fault. Sorry about that.
I do think the artists could be a little more vocal about this. Many of them – if asked – will say they’re not fans of the labels attitude and actions, but how many of them are pro-actively doing ANYTHING to support their fans?
Bah!
January 27th, 2006 at 12:56 am
There is no concept of Fair Use in UK law
Yes there is. I mean, it’s called fair dealing, but the principle’s the same. Whether copying tracks from a CD to your iPod comes under the fair dealing provisions, on the other hand, is a matter about which I’ve never managed to find a clear answer…
Still, your point stands that, whatever the situation, these people clearly don’t have a clue what’s going on.
January 27th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
[...] In related news, the BBC recently ran a piece in which members of the public asked questions of industry execs. It makes for interesting reading and there is analysis of the story on ArsTechnica and here and probably elsewhere. [...]
August 6th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Digital Music – The Industry Answers, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.