Spring Break
Music industry plagued with problems
Kyle Press
Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: Ed-Op
I love music. I am totally obsessed with music. Ever since I saved up my pocket change in third grade to buy my first CD player, I have been spewing oodles of money into the forlorn music industry. I started going to my local record store every day in sixth grade.
I am a sophomore in the Music Industry Program, general manager and jazz director of Drexel's radio station, WKDU, and working part time in a public relations firm that does PR for jazz record labels and artists.
Knowing these things about me, many people assume that I am morally opposed to downloading music. False. I download tons of music; so much so, in fact, that I only have 679.7 MB of space left on my computer's 200 GB hard drive. And yet, I still spend most of my paycheck on LPs, CDs, DVDs (music DVDs of course), MP3s and digital memory to store them all on.
Over the years, I have become very good friends with the owners of Shady Dog Records, to which my parents always said, "Of course they love you - you're keeping them in business!" I went to Shady Dog the other day to pick up the new Bruce Springsteen album and the new deluxe edition of Radiohead's "OK Computer." Their business is still doing fine; actually, it's as good as ever. When I asked them how it was going, they told me that they had fewer customers, but that those who did come in were more interested in actually buying music.
As you may or may not have heard, the economy sort of sucks right now. This has led to the demise of companies from credit conglomerates, to car manufacturers, to, guess who - the four-headed hydra of record labels known as the "big four" (Universal, Sony, Warner, BMI). These are the titans. These are ones that are dying.
You see, it is not that the music business that is dying (as the media and the industry itself may have you believe), but that these major labels are becoming obsolete and whining about it. The fact is, they have been abusing their power and resources, exploiting artists, giving them terrible deals, screwing them out of money and making off like fat cats for years (if not decades). In my humble opinion, they deserve what's been coming to them.
I am a sophomore in the Music Industry Program, general manager and jazz director of Drexel's radio station, WKDU, and working part time in a public relations firm that does PR for jazz record labels and artists.
Knowing these things about me, many people assume that I am morally opposed to downloading music. False. I download tons of music; so much so, in fact, that I only have 679.7 MB of space left on my computer's 200 GB hard drive. And yet, I still spend most of my paycheck on LPs, CDs, DVDs (music DVDs of course), MP3s and digital memory to store them all on.
Over the years, I have become very good friends with the owners of Shady Dog Records, to which my parents always said, "Of course they love you - you're keeping them in business!" I went to Shady Dog the other day to pick up the new Bruce Springsteen album and the new deluxe edition of Radiohead's "OK Computer." Their business is still doing fine; actually, it's as good as ever. When I asked them how it was going, they told me that they had fewer customers, but that those who did come in were more interested in actually buying music.
As you may or may not have heard, the economy sort of sucks right now. This has led to the demise of companies from credit conglomerates, to car manufacturers, to, guess who - the four-headed hydra of record labels known as the "big four" (Universal, Sony, Warner, BMI). These are the titans. These are ones that are dying.
You see, it is not that the music business that is dying (as the media and the industry itself may have you believe), but that these major labels are becoming obsolete and whining about it. The fact is, they have been abusing their power and resources, exploiting artists, giving them terrible deals, screwing them out of money and making off like fat cats for years (if not decades). In my humble opinion, they deserve what's been coming to them.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jerry Bailey
posted 4/17/09 @ 10:12 AM EST
Kyle -- BMI is not a record label and is not dying. BMI is an organization which collects and distributes royalties to songwriters and publishers, operating on a non-profit-making basis. (Continued…)
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