And so we have the opinion of two music lovers and, more importantly, music sellers who identify the blithering idiots in the music industry. And they are……….drrrrrrrum rollllllll…The RIAA!!
The album, or collection of songs — the de facto way to buy pop music for the last 40 years — is suddenly looking old-fashioned. And the record store itself is going the way of the shoehorn.
This is a far cry from the musical landscape that existed when we opened an independent CD shop on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1993. At the time, we figured that as far as business ventures went, ours was relatively safe. People would always go to stores to buy music. Right? Of course, back then there were also only two ringtones to choose from — “riiiiinnng” and “ring-ring.”
The sad thing is that CDs and downloads could have coexisted peacefully and profitably. The current state of affairs is largely the result of shortsightedness and boneheadedness by the major record labels and the Recording Industry Association of America, who managed to achieve the opposite of everything they wanted in trying to keep the music business prospering. The association is like a gardener who tried to rid his lawn of weeds and wound up killing the trees instead.
What’s going to happen to the music industry? I would love to buy CD’s from the racks of HMV but there is no way I am going to pay CAD 30 for a rare CD. I’d rather just download it and wait for the band to swing by Toronto for a show.
Desi In Toronto 