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Mexico's Music Business Meltdown
from the now-what? dept
Salon is running an article looking at how rampant music piracy in Mexico is impacting the music business there. The piracy there is mostly copied CDs sold in stalls, but the article suggests it's a real-world Kazaa - and that the US might look to the situation there and see its own dismal future. Of course, I read the article and have a slightly different take. My first thought is, if this is an "early warning" for the US music industry hopefully they'll take it - and realize that preventing this type of "piracy" isn't likely. It's a coming wave, and no matter what they try to do, it doesn't look like they're going to be able to stop it. If that's the case, then what they need to learn to do is figure out a way to adapt to this change in market conditions. I also noticed that the article claims that 50,000 people in Mexico make a living selling pirated music. This indicates to me that there are business models involving making money when the "content" is being copied. It may not be the business model the music industry is used to or wants to keep going, but there are business models. It's the industry's job to figure out how to adjust to the changing market place. They can complain and whine all they want (and they will), but it doesn't change the fact that the world is changing around them.
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Imitation vs. Origination
Copying music isn't the same as being a great producer, though. And we note that Asian nations used to be havens of piracy, but the law is more often enforced now. If techies are consistent, they should be celebrating pirated copies of software available elsewhere in the world.
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Re: Imitation vs. Origination
You're missing the point. This isn't about "celebrating" piracy. This is about where the market is going, and how companies need to learn to react to the market around them.
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Re: Imitation vs. Origination
Back during the Asian boom years of the 80s and 90s, people used to argue that Asian pirates of music or industrial counterfeits represented "market forces", therefore the Western concept of intellectual property was doomed. However, intellectual property has won that game.
Pearl Jam (which is already famous) can choose to go it alone, but could they have gotten where they are today if they had just sold 5-cent copies of music from the start? There is still a demand for mass marketing that net-based spammers cannot accomplish.
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