RPC Events » companies http://www.rpcevents.com Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:01:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Missing the Beat http://www.rpcevents.com/missing-the-beat/ http://www.rpcevents.com/missing-the-beat/#comments Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:30:48 +0000 admin http://www.rpcevents.com/?p=7 Continuing on the legal front, practically every day we hear of another suit by the record companies or artists against an Internet company, accusing it of piracy. And every time I hear this, the only sound I hear is the voice of someone who just doesn’t get it. No matter what the music industry does, the copying and sharing of digital music files on the Web aren’t going to go away. In fact, they’re going to grow like mad as more of us get broadband connections in our homes. Tossing lawsuits in the paths of innovators like MP3.com and Napster might get headlines, but there will always be someone figuring out something new, whether or not the record companies like it. We’ve already seen the emergence of Gnutella, a file-sharing system that operates peer-to-peer, with no central server and therefore no big company to sue. Bands like Metallica—which is effectively calling more than 300,000 of its own fans and potential fans criminals—are going to need to “think different,” as Steve Jobs might say Yes, artists should be paid for their work, and I’m not endorsing piracy. But people have been making copies of songs for years—and this hasn’t hurt the industry. Even Sony, one of the largest record companies, builds stereo systems with built-in cassette players that can dub CDs.

Superstar musicians should look at this digital technology—and whatever comes after it—as the radio of the 21st century and as a promotional tool that they can use to their advantage. Unsigned bands should look at the emergence of companies like MP3.Com and Napster as a dream come
true. They make finding the music that fans like easier, even if it’s not a top seller. Believe me, if I really like your song, I’ll buy your album. Remember how the movie studios thought that cable TV and VCRs would stop people from going to movies?

More people go than ever. And I’ll bet this new technology will do the same for music. In fact, we could be in for a musical renaissance, as artists of all kinds realize that finding an audience and being heard are getting easier. Rather than fighting the technology, musicians and the record industry should be embracing it and inventing new ways to make money off of it.

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