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Sir Howard Says RIAA Lawsuits Lead To Sony Music's Turnaround
from the economy?--what-economy? dept
Well, that was a disappointment. Back in July, we ran an article about how Sir Howard Stringer was trying to save Sony Music by coming in as an outsider and not just screaming "piracy". Instead, he had admitted that the industry had been angering its customers, and how the industry needed to be "reinvented from the ground up." That sounded good. However, now, he's going around saying that the RIAA lawsuits have turned around Sony Music and talking about how wonderful it is that all this "piracy" has been stopped. What happened to not calling it piracy and reinventing the music business? Apparently that was just a PR spin while the RIAA goons did their job. He also ignores the fact that the economy is clearly picking up and reports have shown that file sharing is on the rise again. The one good point in his speech is the realization that having multiple formats and standards for music download stores doesn't do anyone any good and that there needs to be some standardization. Of course, mp3s were the standard, but since the industry likes to believe everyone is a crook before they're a customer, that was no good for the recording industry.
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Why is the CD dead?
It's so simple, it's almost hard to explain. It came to we while trolling through Fry's (if you don't have a Fry's, you don't know what you're missing).
Fry's DVD section has been expanding regularly over the last year, to the point it takes up about 1/3 of the store's floor space in the half of the store that sells CDs, movies and games.
The prices on DVD's range from about $9.99 on up. CD's start @ $4.99 on up.
Last time I was there, my friend and I were trying to pick a combination of DVD's that would keep us around $40 out-of-pocket. We didn't even *look* at CD's because THE VALUE'S NOT THERE. For three or four more dollars than I would spend for the latest Michelle Branch or Suck182 CD, I can walk out with a four-hour LOTR movie.
I don't know what the solution is, but I believe I see where it's heading. CD's aren't simply going to disappear (too much of an installed hardware base) but thier ubiquity has already rendered them valueless. Think of this as being analogous to how inflation works in economics: the less rare something is, the less valuable.
Already, consumers (including myself) have taken the lead by purchasing blank CD"s and creating their own compilations of their favorite music because to do so creates more value for the consumer.
As an aside, i think it's also odd the music industry has roundly proclaimed the death of the CD-single, which I believe will be its single saving grace. I believe this is also why film soundtracks continue to have steady sales, because a compilation has much more value than a single-artist "album." I got off-track here and forgot where I was going with this rant. You get the gist.
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this is what happens...
When a hopless idealist meets the harsh reality of the corporate world. ...he conforms.
Why the hell reinvent the industry from the ground up when you can flog the dying corpse with a few lawyers to get the necessary results to insure that your job is safe for a few more quarters.
He probably would have gotten his marching orders if he didn't straighen up and fly right.
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