RIAA Math Problem
by
thechas
·
about 16 years, 11 months ago
In reply to Music industry proposes anti-priacy surcharge on ISPs
The issue I have with the RIAA and the movie industry and compensation for unpurchased media is their faulty math.
Going back to the 1960’s when cassette recorders became popular, the RIAA has presumed that every blank tape sold was a lost sale. Same with the movie industry and video recorders. I seriously doubt that if by some magic all downloading and file sharing ceased that sales would increase by more than 10%.
The same factors that drove recording LPs onto cassette tapes are still in place today for sharing MP3 files.
1. The music industry did not embrace and support the new technology with a means to purchase a quality legitimate product at a reasonable price. Thus, the consumer who desired the new technology had to find alternate ways to get it. When the music industry finally provided product with the new technology, the quality was inferior and the availability was limited. Reinforcing the underground effort.
2. Economics also plays a big part. Teens who are the music industries main market have a limited entertainment budget. Generally, they will purchase content they like the best and borrow content that they just enjoy. Add in movies, video games and the myriad other entertainment options that did not exist 20 years ago, and there is that much less money available to spend on music.
3. Despite the RIAA math, every blank media is not used for pirate recording. I still use VHS tapes for time shifting programs that I am not able to watch in real time. Every blank CD and DVD I buy ends up with data files or my personal pictures.
4. From what I observe with my children and there friends, downloaded music is not the big problem. The lack of quality content that kids feel is worth paying for is the big issue.
The RIAA could have a bigger impact on the sales of new music by holding artists up to some moral and ethical standards. And for that matter, the record industry executives as well. Cut back on the out of control lavish life styles and excesses of some artists and executives, and people might believe that the cost of music is worth it.
Chas
