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gull
The Seventeenth Napster Item Mark Unseen   Jan 13 14:40 UTC 2004

Since no one has started a Napster item yet this Agora, and I have some
stuff to post,  I thought I'd start one.  Quoting from krj's post in the
previous Agora:

"Napster the corporation has been destroyed, but the Napster paradigm
continues.  This is another quarterly installment in a series of weblog 
and discussion about the deconstruction of the music industry and 
other copyright industries, with side forays into 
'intellectual property, freedom of expression, electronic media, 
corporate control, and evolving technology,' as polygon once 
phrased it.
   
"Several years of back items are easily found in the music2 and music3
conferences, covering discussions all the way back to the initial
popularity of the MP3 format."

Would someone be kind enough to link this to Music?
102 responses total.
gull
response 1 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 13 14:43 UTC 2004

I'll lead off with an article from the LA Weekly.  The RIAA has taken a
page from the ATF, and is staging raids with units dressed in SWAT team
style gear with "RIAA" stencilled on the back:
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/printme.php?eid=50096
This seems kind of creepy to me, but I've probably read too much sci-fi
that involved private corporate police forces.
twenex
response 2 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 13 14:48 UTC 2004

It seems creepy to me, too, and I haven't read too much (any) of that kind
of Sci-Fi.

Big corporations have always been part of the "Establishment"; it's the bad
side of capitalism. There was a news report the other day about the lobbyists
in Washington; all the big corporate interests had the ear of the Powers that
Be, but a spokesperson from some citizens' interests pressure group complained
of often having to fight to speak to senatorial aides, never mind senators
themselves.
krj
response 3 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 13 17:26 UTC 2004

   ((( Winter Agora #72 now linked as Music #169.  )))
 
Thanks for starting this and keeping the traditional form, David!
jep
response 4 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 13 20:31 UTC 2004

There are lots of music services out there these days, selling songs 
for about 99 cents.  Are people here who used to use Napster or Kazaa 
buying their music from these services now?
twinkie
response 5 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 13 21:28 UTC 2004

I think at Macworld last week, Steve Jobs announced that over 30 million songs
had been dowloaded. So certainly, some people are buying songs now.

I've purchased two songs from Apple's music store, and was relatively
impressed with it. Though, I think reducing the prices would help
substantially. 

As it stands now, the going rates are $0.99/song or $9.99/album. For two or
three dollars more, I can buy a CD at Best Buy that isn't AAC compressed, and
comes with liner notes and album art. 

If the prices dropped to a level where I'd see real value in downloading vs.
buying retail, I'd jump on it. And it would seem that Wal-Mart may help make
that happen. They're poised to open their own music store, with plans to sell
songs for $0.88 and albums for $8.88.

slynne
response 6 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 13 22:00 UTC 2004

One of these days, I might get around to buying some songs online. I 
wouldnt buy a whole album because I could just buy it at the store 
which would be a whole lot easier. 
jaklumen
response 7 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 14 09:05 UTC 2004

resp:5 I'd seen mention of the Wal-Mart music store on.. I think it 
was ABC News.  They were doing a story that was asking if 
the 'legitimate' downloading services were really catching on.
twinkie
response 8 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 14 15:12 UTC 2004

re: 7 It seems to be online now, though the pricing isn't across the board
for albums, it is a bit less expensive than iTunes:
http://musicdownloads.walmart.com/catalog/servlet/MainServlet

albaugh
response 9 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 14 17:08 UTC 2004

Heard on the radio this morning:  Last year music industry sales dropped only
1%, but music sales in the Country genre dropped 10%.
gull
response 10 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 15 02:28 UTC 2004

I haven't bought any music online yet.  To be honest, I got most of the 
ear candy stuff I wanted before I got rid of my downloading programs.  
Bands that I actually like more than two songs by I usually consider 
worth going to the effort of buying a CD.
krj
response 11 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 16 20:16 UTC 2004

Oh, there are such a bundle of news reports...  I'll try to get a few 
in as time permits.

Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina gave a major speech at the 
Consumer Electronic Show in which she attacked the copying and sharing 
of copyrighted materials and pledged that HP's products would work to 
stop this.  

>> "Just because we can steal music doesn't mean we should," Fiorina 
said.  "It is illegal.  It is wrong, and there are things we can do as a
technology company to help."  <<

"HP declares war on sharing culture"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34804.html

The Register's journalism always has a slightly yellow tinge, but this story
appears in many other major sources.

-----

Many new music products involve dual-format presentations of the same songs.
Common anti-copying CD technologies include both a "red book" CD Audio
program for standard CD players, coupled with a Windows Media set of files
for computer use.   There's also the attempt to encourage consumers
to move to the Super Audio CD technology by manufacturing discs 
which include both SACD and standard CD audio versions of the same tracks,
at different layers on the physical disc.

The music publishers, who represent the songwriters, complain that they 
are entitled to two payments of the mechanical, per-copy royalties when 
such products are sold, one payment for each version of a recording 
on a dual-format product.  The publishers also want back payments for 
every such recording sold, which could amount to a large pile of money.

"Royalty Problems Assail Labels"
http://p2pnet.net/story/551
twinkie
response 12 of 102: Mark Unseen   Jan 16 22:07 UTC 2004

It's pretty funny that Carly would stand so steadfast against music piracy,
just after HP announced that they've teamed with Apple to sell HP-branded
iPods.

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