Sunday, June 8, 2008

The Record Industy is Dead (part 1)

Okay... I think I've got it. Back when I was a kid, we had these 7 1/2 inch black discs called records (singles). We also had a 12 inch (album) version which was used to store about twelve songs. The size of these music storage formats hindered us from using them in our cars. Someone was smart enough to develop the cassette tape format. Not only could we play our selections, we could record new material (a small piece of scotch-tape placed over the openings on the top corners of the cassette would allow one to copy over a previously recorded store bought album) as well. Someone else thought that they were even smarter and came up with the short lived 8 track tape. Play-back was fine on this format (one could skip whole songs and not have to wait for a fast-forward). I don't think recording in this format was an option. In the early 80's someone came up with the compact-disk. This format boasted exact sound replication but somehow sounded stripped down. Personally, I miss the texture of the old black disk format. In the 90's, the mp3 format came into Vogue. Portability and ease of use (well... at least to the young) were this format's biggest selling points. The main problem with the mp3 format is the inability to easily acquire material. Well, not material so much as the material one actually desires.
In the new mellenium, the medium of choice is You-Tube. If one wishes to listen to -or even view- "Should I Love You Forever (Sould I, Should I)?" by Cee Farrow, it's there. "777-9311" by The Time, "I'm Beautiful...Dammit!" by Uncanny Alliance, even "Private Life" by Oingo-Boingo can all be found on this site. I think that that Yahoo bought You-Tube but can't figure out how to make money from the site. I had a solution that was looking for an answer. A "brick-and mortor" You-Tube owned record "store" liscenced by Yahoo. Storage, shipping and inventory costs would be almost completely eliminated. The pricing stucture would depend on degrees to and from the actual ownership of the intellectual property (poster-> site->record company->writer) This model would encourage record companies to add more direct content. The stores would be called "Mi-Music". Mi- with the emphasis on the lower case "i". ("I"-pod, Mi- as in "my" en espanol, and I just like how the "MiM" logo could be developed.) The problem with this type of loading store was the inability to acquire and sort all of this content. You-Tube has already done it.
First, go to the biggest "boot-legger" in a given area and encourage, train and licence them to be the store owners. Teach them how to sue boot-leggers for copy right infringement and that boot-leggers are in effect setting up an illegal business in their market (like setting up his fruit stand in the parking lot of your local grocery store). Theft of intellectual property could be fought by former thieves more diligently while having to split the proceeds from cases with the site and ultimate owners of the product.
Okay..I haven't thought of ALL of the details but this model actually makes sense (and dollars) for all involved. The record store model for this point foreword.

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