HOW PAUL GIOVANNI £RD COULD HAVE SAVED THE MUSIC BUSINESS...

Current mood: SELF RIGHTEOUS
Category: SELF RIGHTEOUS Music

The news that last year saw a 10% fall in LP sales in the UK and that EMI is imploding with incompetance, is no serious surprise..

No boss, musicians these days have every right to be worried about piracy and the safety of their royalty checks. Frankly, the whole music business is falling to pieces and many would say ABOUT BLEEDING TIME!!!!

Of course the bizz only has itself to blame for this decline. If they'd latched onto the potential of peer to peer networking sites like Emule & Limewire as early as the rest of the world did, they could have nipped the illegal downloading thing in the bud very easily...

Yes boss, the way to stop the dirty bastard pirates in their tracks was glaringly simple:

All the bizz had to do was load all the Peer to Peer networks with wrongly named files and folders containing nasty viruses and glitchy and wrong tracks. By doing this they'd have made the likes of Emule so hit and miss, that folk would have flocked to the payfor ways much, much quicker (and more importantly) more happily, than they have...

This combined with a sustauined campaign of mind control media manipulation using their own employees (AKA the artists) to continually state that DOWNLOADING FOR FREE WAS WRONG!!! and the job could have easily and quickly been done no problems...

Yes boss, there's nothing most normal folk like more than safety and reliability (no matter what they say to the contrary), and it would've taken one decent virus induced system crash or a succession of bad downloads to put most folk off the likes of Limewire for life without any chance of parole!!!

The whole operation could have been done by a bunch of mercenary hackers/geeks and room full of cheap computers, for far less then the cost of all the lawsuits the music biz brought trying to fight the inevitable and their revenue would have been in far better shape now than it is...

I mean shit, who these big boys use as strategists is anyones guess - but whoever they are, they sure as shit need firing...

Fight fire with fire, punch as you're being punched and you're laughing. It's fucking basic elemental strategy...

So, next time, you know who to call...

Currently listening : Ralf & Florian By Kraftwerk Release date: By 07 December, 1999

01:54 - 20 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	V Holeček	I still remember the all the spoof videos of "Metallicops" hunting down Napster users... That was what, like almost ten years ago? The industry had the perfect opportunity then, and instead opted to make themselves target for ridicule and folly. Posted by V Holeček on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 13:31 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	Metallica and Public Enemy were the only bands who came out and tried to discuss and inform the business of the foolishness of it's ways - but like you say, the bizz didn't properly engage with the issue then and that was the time to be doing it... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 13:52 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Clinker	The plan now is to ban people from the internet entirely if you have pirate films and music on your harddrive. 3 strikes and your out apparantly. Posted by Clinker on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 13:38 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	But how in the hell are they gonna know what's on your hard drive??? Particularly if you have more than one machine?? All you have to do is take the machine with your music and vids offline. You can buy a PC that'll work as a media center for less than £50 - stack this one up with hard drives and leave a completely clean mahine for the net, and no-one knows a thing... And besides, the horse has well and truly bolted now. There is far too much pirated material about already, so even if all the illegal ones were shut down tomorrow, people would just trade their files on writeable DVDs or whatever... They've really got to get over this Crime & Punishment approach and start playing a little dirty if they're to have any hope... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 13:49 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	KvKvG	Fuck 'em. I thinks it destiniy. let these labels rot in hell. we dont need them anymore. I was always of the opinion that the purpose of a record label was to seperate good music from bad mucsic. theirfore giving the consumer an easy opputunity to select the best music from each genre. Instead of going for what is simply good or bad, the labels opted for what is in fashion, working on the basis of planned obselecence. Ignoring the fact that all good music is timeless. I think things like myspace have highlighted the great injustice of the music industry. if they did their jobs propellery, every famous band would be as good as the pixies, the beatles, bowie, daft punk, aphex twin... and radiohead :) because many great bands exist without the publics knowlage (they came from the stars...) but we all know of bands who simply dont deserve our attention (westlife sping to mind) in any other industry if you dont do your job propellery - you get the sack. simple. its time for them to go. the In rainbows buisness model i think is the best way for all future bands and fans to conduct themselves. if radiohead wanted to be really revoultionary, they would of supplied us with the knowlage of how to do it for ourselves. unfortunatly it appears that they are still unwilling to put full control into the consumers hands...shame. Posted by KvKvG on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 14:08 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	I think the purpose of a record label has always been to make money. These last few years, they've found the best way to do that is to batter peoples heads with things like X-Factor. YOU WANT THIS!!!! HAVE IT!!! HAVE SOME MORE!!!! GO ON YA FUCKERS YOU STUPID FUCKERS - YOU LOVE IT DON'T YA!!!!!! They've also really nailed this pop star conveyor belt idea down to a tee.. That Nash, Winehouse, Adelle & Leona Lewis all came from the same 'Brits' Academy says it all.. This isn't to say that none on that list are talented, so much as the talent scouts are only looking in a few places despite the huge choice that is now easy to access... Lily Allen and The Arctic Monkeys are the only big myspace acts and both would have happenned without it ever existing... Choice is always there, and myspace provides it - but most folk still only like acts they're told to like... Basically: People are Lazy... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 14:19 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Taken By... Music Photography	Yep you are right, its laziness completely. Lazy music fans who only click on th bands that are on the front page of Myspace or are mentioned in an article somewhere. I love just trailing through random bands, theres alot of bad stuff ok but some gems too. Then the A&r folk are lazy too, going for the same type of acts time and time again. They always though short term profits but not long term sustainability so inevitably when the fans grow up with alot of bands the bands disappear and then in some cases only reappear once the fans have had children old enough to go to gigs and they can cash in again(take that,spice girls) With Jamba going into business with EMI on DRM downloads and other sites who will poss give away songs for free but have lots of advertising (so the advertising money pays the artist not the consumer) we won't escape the constant pushing on some artists as there will be even more ads, so the lazy will just click on them and buy whats popular at the time. When I went to a Don Letts and Jarvis Cocker talk last summer I talked to them about how the album track may disappear as people just buy the hit tracks or the more catchy ones, will that mean artists will be forced to work harder on each track. Will we lose the longer album tracks... I think with that its down to the artists to gig and tour as much as poss and if they have a real love for a track perform it with the emotion and energy it deserves then people will hopefully buy it. Its interesting the future of the music industry... I think in say 10 years advertisers will own the major record labels and own the copyright to the recordings of the past and artists, big name artists will be signed up to tour promoters like Madonna's latest deal. Small acts will be gigging and gigging and hoping that people will buy their tunes and they will only hit the mainstream if an advertiser likes them... oh is that too cynical a view...? :) Posted by Taken By... Music Photography on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 15:27 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Christopher Nosnibor	Yeah, I'd be interested to see how they're gonna doll out Internmet bans too... let's put the theory to the test, shall we? Posted by Christopher Nosnibor on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 13:55 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	It sounds completely unworkable to me... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 14:02 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Christopher Nosnibor	Ah, Napster... Audiogalaxy... the good old days. Interesting to note that home taping didn't kill music as predicted. No, the autopsy can now reveal that the death of the music industry was suicide. Where did all that money go? Mostly into Robbie Williams' contract, it would seem. Yeah, that was cash well spent, too... Posted by Christopher Nosnibor on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 13:54 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	I was reading yesterday that a million copies of William's Rudebox LP are going to China to be pulped for re-use in road surfacing and street lighting.... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 14:01 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Clinker	best use for it, haha Posted by Clinker on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 14:13 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	At last pop music is becoming practically useful... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 14:21 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	The Cupid Kinkyboots Fan Club	Who's getting any royalties when you do your little podcast thing? The music biz is in the state it's in 'cause the labels are still trying to use the same formula they developed 40-50 years ago. But the times they are a changin' and things ain't workin' out for the labels or the retailers. There's this little thing called the internet that's changed everything, music included. You give people the chance to spread the word around freely and guess what? It's gonna get spread around. Most bands don't make a lot of money from their record contracts anyways. That money belongs to the labels. The bands get enslaved paying off their fat advances over their five album contract. They get all their money from shows, either from the door or selling their CDs and crap to the audience they attract. The retailers ared dropping like flies 'cause who wants to buy a whole album with maybe a couple of good songs when they can download the good stuff on iTunes or just get it for free? Is anybody really surprised at this? Apparently the label bigwigs are, 'cause they just don't seem to get it. So their solution is the stupid thing they're doing now, trying to prevent digital duplication. Not a very smart approach. Obviously the old guys who rule the record companies aren't in touch with modern day realities. Present day copyright law is all messed up too and will have to be overhauled to take into account the new digital era, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms. I don't know what the biz is gonna need to do to fix itself in the long run, and don't pretend to have any answers for that. There's these guys who get paid a lot more than I do that can figure that out. But I think the Radiohead approach is a good start. I mean, if it's really good stuff, if it's really good quality, people will be willing to pay for it. "pay what you think it's worth" is a great idea. It really puts everyone in the hot seat to produce some quality entertainment and not just another load of fashionable crap. Posted by The Cupid Kinkyboots Fan Club on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 18:53 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	I don't pay royalties and I don't get paid royalties which on Planet Paul = equality... I also don't know the answers. Radioheads idea is all a little bit wooly for my liking. Bootleggers will just move in and exploit the situation somehow... As they say in the old country: Il Mondo Appartiene Ai Furbi The World Belongs to the Clever Foxes Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 21:30 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Nonstop Everything	i always thought the media companies WERE planting viruses. i know a lot of casualties who seem to think so. the fall of the music industry makes me very happy. i actually hope socialize my work someday. countries will give me yearly grants and they can have what they want. i think the french may go for this. Posted by Nonstop Everything on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 19:03 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	Maybe they have been, but to nothing like a big enough extent. I've downloaded a shit load and never had any problems other than a couple of Trojan Horses that were attached to software - all the music has been absolutely clean... That kind of idea you're touting, would seem to be similar to the kind of "Writer/Artist in Residence" idea... It's a nice idea, but if payment is guaranteed, many folk are gonna be lazy... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 20:46 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Emily	Have Ralf and Florian come to the downloaders houses and threaten them. Posted by Emily on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 20:38 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	Shit!!! I've downloaded the entire Kraftwerk Discography - All 36 albums of it (English & German versions, LIVE bootlegs etc etc) Ralf & Florian are gonna kick my ASS!!!! Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 20:41 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Emily	Did you see the Big Lebowski? This is totally gonna happen to you, watch out: Posted by Emily on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 22:20 [Remove] [Reply to this]