Speaking of Minneapolis, which will likely be my second home this fall, I couldn't help but pass along this cautionary tale for anyone who still "acquires music illegally".
The recording industry has won a major fight in its effort to stop illegal music downloading with a U.S. jury decision to impose $222,000 damages against a Minnesota woman who used a Web service to share music.I'll make no bones about it, I've illegally downloaded in the past. Period. I don't think there's a single person alive who hasn't, knowingly or otherwise, done so. The ripple effect of piracy on the music industry has allegedly been catastrophic. Album sales (especially for disposable genres like LCD rap music) decline severely each year, and the recording industry attributes much of this to illegal file sharing applications like Kazaa, and my former drug of choice, BitTorrent.
Although industry commentators are divided over what impact the case will have on stemming illegal downloads globally, the size of the damages is significant -- nearly 80 times higher than the average European settlement figure in such a case.
The jury in the civil case in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota on Thursday found Jammie Thomas infringed copyrighted song recordings, and awarded damages of $9,250 for each of the 24 recordings cited.
On the other hand, maybe it's also time for the recording industry to face some cold, hard, facts. People aren't buying music anymore, because, well, it sucks. The whole explosion of ringtone rap, the lack of a colossal pop star who moves units (Justin Timberlake doesn't exactly qualify), and the stagnant sales of country music are all to blame on some level. Heck, I don't even listen to country music, but the proliferation of dudes with chick haircuts probably ain't helping their case anymore than one hit sensations like "Ay Bay Bay" and "Chain Hang Low" are helping rap.
Since I'm on the topic, I think the rapid decline of rap music can be attributed to one very obvious problem: too many damn rappers and not enough fans. Back in the days, Tuesdays meant one, maybe two releases at the most. I know this because we had a dude on my dorm hall who would literally "take orders" for the day's releases, secure your "deposit" (usually $5) then go to the mall and boost all the new releases from Sam Goody's. He'd come back to the dorm, collect the rest of his money, and everyone on the hall would be bumpin' Midnight Marauders before it was time to hit the cafe. Sure, this was a poor man's predecessor to bootlegging and file sharing I guess, but the whole process worked because new releases were few in number, which made every Tuesday something special.
Nowadays, rap music is just too easy to make. Back in the days, you had to learn to program drum machines, how to load samples, and you had to get everything recorded in a studio which was hella expensive. Now with the advent of FruityLoops and ProTools, bamas with zero musical talent and $300 can start punching out tunes in mere hours. Mix in a MySpace Music page and some $30 CEO bidness cards, and it's easy to understand why everyone and their 3rd cousin want to be a rapper. With the gimmicky nature of today's music, it's no wonder that rapping has surpassed ballin' as the new street dream. But I digress.
The music industry could do itself a great favor by just getting back to signing and developing actual artists, as opposed to finding the next get rich quick scheme (ie: ringtone rap). Unless they're 13 and living in their mother's basement, people don't want to drop a hard earned $17 on an album with one hit, 13 guest appearances, and 47 mindless skits.
When the music is worth buying again, maybe people like Jammie Thomas, and yes, AverageBro will start paying for it.
Until then, fire up Azureus.
Music industry wins song-download case [AP]
