File sharers spend big

Pet Shop Boys via last.fm

Does it come as a surprise to ANYONE the recent news that the most prolific music file sharers are also the most prolific spenders?

In a recent BBC news report on file sharing which discusses a recent survey conducted by MORI, it states that the average file sharer also spends an average of £77 a year on paid for music.


Is that it? In my music buying heyday, I used to trot off to Berwick Street and spend around £80 EVERY Saturday. I had some awesome stuff to show for it too - promos, bootlegs, rare deleted releases.

However, this really rings true for me. Most people who have a passing interest in anything maintain just a moderate level of interest. If you're not a diehard U2 fan, are you really going to take the time to find and visit file sharing sites, when iTunes is right there?

The problem with legit outlets like iTunes is they still don't have all the variations of a release that a fan might want. Take the Voxigen remix of "I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing" by Pet Shop Boys. I scoured the shops for months searching for this. The CD this was on was only released in Holland, and to acquire it would cost me around £40 (if I could ever find it). Of this £40, neither the label nor the band would see a penny of this. This remix has yet to show up on any legit download site.

This new news about file sharer spending further muddies the water of the cut and dry scenario bodies like the RIAA are advertising, mainly file sharing is theft, thus must be punished. I believe that enough people who actually know what they're talking about (and I don't include the RIAA) will agree that the best way to discover new music is via services like file sharing, free downloads and - more and more - streaming services like Spotify.




With services like Spotify and We7 now replacing the need for ownership with access, the question of piracy and file sharing could soon be a thing of the past if only they could get their catalogues in order. With issues like international licensing still an issue, this won't be resolved any time soon.

Price war and access vs ownership

Image by Lee Bennett via Flickr

With the announcement of variable pricing on iTunes, TechDigest ran a wonderful article on the whole idea of ownership in the new millenia.

The basic argument stems from the arrival of Spotify. If you have millions of tracks at your fingertips with instant access, why bother downloading - legally or illegally - mp3s?

The argument of mp3 vs CD has been raging for the last few years, with legal downloads quickly making some major headway, but it's interesting to read an article about the abandoning of purchase altogether.

I, for one, seem to spent more time than not on Spotify. True, they're missing a lot of material (mainly indie stuff and IDM stuff) and they're quite slow to fix bugs (there's a sequencing issue in a Tina Turner album I raised weeks ago that's unresolved), but it's still the best piece of software I've downloaded in ages and the best music listening experience I've had since I discovered burning MP3s to CD.

Will I continue to buy CDs? Occasionally. Will I continue to download illegal MP3s? Probably not. Will I continue to question access over ownership? Definitely.

Amaz(on)ing freebies

I know this will come as no surprise to many, but surfing through the American Amazon site as I don't usually do, I happened upon an area called "free downloads" under the rather well hidden music menu.

Normally sites like this that feature freebies feature freebies noone has ever heard of or have them wrapped in so much DRM you can never listen to them. Kudos to Amazon that neither of these factors are true. On the front page of the downloads page today is an exclusive Moby b-side, a couple of new Aimee Mann tracks and a track off the Bloc Party album.

Further digging and I found two MP3s from VHS or Beta, a band who opened for Duran Duran recently in North America. Now whether Amazon planned this cunningly or not, having downloaded the two free MP3s, I now have to own as many VHS or Beta CDs as I can find. Damn you Amazon.

The one complaint I do have about the site is it's American-centric offerings. That said, it is the US site, so it can't really be helped.

I just don't know how they can offer over 200 free MP3s without any recompence from the record labels. However they did it, my hat is definitely off you Amazon.

Link: Amazon's Free Downloads

Sony continues their about face

Not content to admit that MP3 will always win over their ATRAC format, today Sony announced plans to dump the Copy Controlled disc from their recorded music division.

The idea of issuing DRM-infected discs always seemed at odds with the mother company, as Sony Electronics was one of the pioneers of the CD format back in the 80s. Ironically, as they didn't adhere to their own developed red book audio CD standard, the copy controlled discs issued by Sony Music couldn't bear the "CD Audio" logo.

Sony admits the change of heart is due to the public being educated enough to know that copying music is now wrong. Could be more to do with people not buying these discs as they were problematic and held no assurances that they'd work, unlike discs that adhered to the red book audio standard. Now that they've dumped the DRM-discs, Sony can assure fans and customers that the CDs they buy will work the way that mothership Sony and Philips had originally intended.

In other news, I've noticed a few BMG titles in the UK now sitting on shelves without copy control on them, where once there was. May the new JV of Sony BMG Music have some impact on this? Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, it's a great day for music fans, especially with the imminent release of the new Duran Duran set "Astronaut" on Sony Music.

-- Link: The Register
-- Link: National Post

MP3 article

The BBC have an very interesting article about MP3s. Basically, they're crap. The only thing going for them is universal uptake.... VHS anyone?

Problems:
-- MP3 encoding loses a lot of data
-- sound is tinny and compressed
-- it's a 16 year old technology (developed in 1988)

Here's the link