Record labels are arseholes (in case you hadn’t guessed already)
January 29, 2009
I’ve had tirades about the music industry in the past and how f*&^ing incompetent and self-important they are. I used to work for a small record label many, many years ago. They were the good guys. They were part of an uprising that was trying to stop the big labels ripping people off by charging £5 more for a CD even although the manufacturing cost was only about 50p more.
You see, record labels are greedy scum. They fleeced the public for years and swelled to a gargantuan size on the proceeds. Then the lovely internet came along and the idiots decided the best approach was to mistrust everyone and see it all as a threat. When, instead, they should have seen it as an opportunity. And their actions made people want to pirate music all the more. It was their actions that cause the big piracy problem – and I’m writing this rant because it seems that they never bloody learn.
So why am I venting my spleen? I read today that record company restrictions are going to make an impact on the wonderful Spotify service. It means some tracks will be removed and others won’t play in certain countries because of out-dated licensing laws.
I’m sure it’s not the last time I’ll be spitting bile because of these jumped-up paracites. You can read more about the Spotify thing on techcrunch.
January 29, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Strong words Dave. Lol.
I saw your article on TCUKs trackback and thought and I’d better read this. Glad I did. Made my day!
January 30, 2009 at 5:16 pm
I’m with you. It was a huge mistake to fight Napster. Nonetheless, seeing it from the point of view of a music consumer, I’m glad that the music industry decided to shut down Napster, because that motivated music listeners to organize themselves in a different way. That was the birth of peer-2-peer downloads as we know them today.
The music industry was simply too greedy and didn’t understand that the Net Generation has to be treated differently. Fortunately, the music industry is starting to realize that it’d be better not to upset their customers. I think, there is hope — especially for new labels run by Net Geners like us!