More on Thieves

[talktooloose]

Followup to this morning's post on the copy-protection on Radiohead's Hail to the Thief.

Prompted by scapegoatee's statement, "There's no way I'm going to go out and buy crippled merchandise," I am re-connecting with my natural state of anger at record companies (and all other giant conglomerates for that matter). The model that is clearly bubbling under the surface is that you should buy the CD for $18 and, if you want the MP3s, buy the new copy-limited ones from iTunes music store (or future equivalents) for $1.50/tune. If I want the whole album and I want to play it in both formats, I can do so for $38 instead of, say $17 for the same thing a year ago.

As was noted on one bulletin board, the record companies claim that part of the reason for high CD prices is that their products are being pirated. Well, loves, if you're going to peddle copy-protected merch, you should drop the price to $10, shouldn't you? Some enlightened software companies (e.g. WaveMetrics, creators of Igor Pro) offer software licences that allow you to install two copies: one for your office and one for you home or laptop. This policy recognizes how the product is actually used.

Big record companies are repellant and greedy. They are not good for artists, the public or music in general.

Comments

[cornekopia.livejournal.com]

That is so weird. Especially considering Radiohead are a brit band, with no known reason to prefer one country over another, and a history of being very net and pc-friendly.

Sounds like an evil record exec decision.