Author: EEBaum
Date: 2007-08-20 07:47
That's a rather poor context for pulling the word "think" out of an article. At that point, he is opining as to why nobody has done a study about whether people would have bought the CD if the tracks weren't available for free, not about how downloaders act.
For the matter of it being an opinion piece, I'd say the supposition that sales are down "in great part due to loss of revenue via Internet downloads" is just as much opinion. There are more factors at work, not the least of which is backlash against the recording industry for poor publicity regarding artists and customers. When the artists (such as Janis Ian) talk such trash about the people paying their bills, something is amiss. It's an "if your own employees, so to speak, think you're scum, perhaps I should think twice before supporting you" reaction. Or, for some, possibly some twisted "screw you" form of civil disobedience. There's fairly widespread sentiment that record companies are large, wealthy, and focused only on their own profits.
Interestingly enough, the downturn in sales has also coincided with the ubiquity of the internet, and, consequently, much easier access to whiny stories of artists being handed a new one by record companies. I, for one, wouldn't touch a contract from one of the major record companies with a ten foot pole. And if I wouldn't dream of WORKING for them, it hardly makes me want to BUY from them. Disdain for the big media corporations is very common in my circles, for too many reasons to count, and we do vote with our wallets.
Not a justification for downloading, just a possible explanation for any reduction in sales.
As for consolidation, I hardly think it's specific to the music industry. Industries across the spectrum are merging and acquiring like there's no tomorrow. Oil companies. Video game publishers. Grocery stores. Restaurant chains. Telecoms. Google. It all ends up with a more hostile marketplace for the little guy, who must find a place between the dumptruck full of cash offered for their demise, eking it out on their own, and going under. If they DON'T merge voraciously, and act with decency rather than putting ultimate profitability first, they are sued by shareholders.
In the case of video game publishers (my area of experience), the companies have become ludicrously risk-averse. It is much "safer" to produce Madden 2009 or Age of Empires 6 or Halo 4 than it is to make an innovative non-rehash title that actually tries something new. You have some guaranteed sales by name recognition, no matter how wonderful or cruddy your game is. And so, smaller companies (like the one I work for) have a much harder time getting new contracts. Almost overnight, the industry has changed from lots of worthwhile publishers and scores of developers to a few big players with all the resources, and select few independents that can even pay the bills. It's not a crash or a downturn, but it is a consolidation that shuts out everyone but the big guys and the occasional visionary entrepreneur. Now that they've bought the proper portions of the development chain, the handful of conglomerates do almost everything in-house.
In essence, massive consolidation in any industry tends to shut out (and shut down) the small outside contractor. In an industry (games) that boasts record sales year after year (which also could be where some of the music industry money is going. You going to play World of Warcraft or buy another CD?), we're even feeling the pinch. That sort of situation could, at least in part, have contributed for the unfortunate circumstances Ski experienced.
It's akin to why people get so worked up about global warming (and let's not take this thread there)... there are SO many different factors in the mix that nobody knows for sure exactly what's going on and why, though theories abound. And, frankly, it's not entirely clear whether the downloaders or the music industry are playing the part of Al Gore in this one.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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