Music 2.0

changing the way we create, share, and alter music | The Campaign

10 Issues with Record Label Fascism

The major record labels control the music industry. They are corrupting the nature of the internet and threatening the flow of music. We need to act against the RIAA in a movement allowing artists control of their music. If we continue to live under a music monopoly our lives will be filled with DRM and filters snooping our every download. We have the power to control how the future of music unfolds. This is just ten of the major malfunctions in the record label business, there are many more...

1.
The RIAA is trying to get colleges and ISPs to stop file sharing.

They are attempting to get them to use filters which slow down the internet by acting like a bouncer at a night club, only allowing "good traffic" to flow through. Obviously DRM and thousands of lawsuits are not stopping the rampant piracy. Instead of creating a new business model and using the internet as a distribution platform they are trying to filter the Internet one step at a time.

2.
The RIAA is squeezing money out of companies that come in contact of music.

Record labels are taking money from YouTube, CD-RW companies, and forcing information out of ISPs. These companies are not at fault for their consumers' usage of their products.

3.
DRM is like renting music, it will eventually just become space lost on your hard drive.

DRM forces you to maintain a connection to the service you choose to download from, and also limits you to a specific number of machines or devices you can play the music on. Currently. DRM needs to be removed to allow the flow of music across all devices.

4.
Statistics say that the record label's business model causes more job losses than it provides.

Is the current business model worth keeping? A “calculated” number of 71,000 U.S. jobs are lost a year and there are only 50,000 U.S. jobs in the music industry.

5.
The record labels keep cutting into the artist's profit more and more.

Even after the price of albums have come down the industry has not changed its business model. Less famous bands make little money because artists make very little off their CDs and make much more playing concerts. Which major labels have began demanding money from concerts as well.

6.
Songs get popular because record labels are paying for radio placement.

The record labels have skyrocketed radio placement costs. This makes it more difficult for small artists to get their foot in the door. Radios and the internet need to work together to promote future music.

7.
The record label business model is stealing money from artists.

It is bulky, and many of the systems could be replaced with the aid of social networking. Not only is it expensive but they are also cutting out the artists when pay days roll around.

8.
Artists are forced to stay with record labels for a set amount of albums.

Artists should keep their music and get choose the distribution methods they want. Not allowing artists to reach out in their own ways can make it more difficult for them to earn back the money they owe to the record labels.

9.
Record labels are forcing artists to produce music the musicians do not really want to create.

In 1999 over 30,000 albums were released, and in 2007 around 12,000 albums. Record labels are about creating the least amount of music while producing the most amount of profit. Record Label’s artists are pawns for the record label's competition in sales and formula perfection.

10.
The internet is not being used as a proper distribution platform for music.

Artists and social media websites need to collectively create new distribution areas for music to be sold, traded, collected, labeled, etc. Because record labels have forced DRM upon us and restricted their artists from selling online, there are only a handful of communities which have music for sale. Social communities need to band together overthrow record labels internet failure.

Home | 10 Problems with Record Labels | Campaign Efforts | Research Paper | Blaine Ehrhart