Music Industry Backlash
By War Serpent

As if suing creators of file downloading programs was not enough, the music industry has started aiming their lawsuits at your average Joe: you and me. Individuals with such a love for music, that we sometimes just can't wait to hear how the upcoming Lamb of God or Dying Fetus release is going to sound. We can even dig a little harder to find tracks from older bands such as Napalm Death or Iron Maiden or search for old bootlegs of Chimaira from their "This Present Darkness" days.

What seemed harmless to us has been perceived as a threat to the music industry due to the three year slump in record sales. Their reaction: suing 200+ individuals with many more to come. One of the "victims" of these series of lawsuits was a 12 year old girl with over 1,000 songs off Kazaa. The mother settled out of court for $2,000. Where exactly does this stop? It seems despite their efforts, downloading is continuing although there is a slight downturn in downloading since the lawsuits started in June.

They place the blame of the slump on downloaders, but if you ask me, the true reason is the music within the industry itself. Mainstream music overall has gone downhill. It has become repetitive, boring, and just plain old stupid (hilarious at times, as well). The industry is filled with artists that attract in little 13 year olds, but it seems when high school hits, some of those cool pop songs were not so cool after all. After the first album an artist puts out, a lot of the time it seems they do nothing but go down from there. There are few bands that hit the mainstream and only get better. Where's the proof? As stated before, music downloading has declined slightly, and between June 15 and August 3, the decline in music sales has accelerated 54 percent. In the same time period of 2002, CD sales were down 9.2 percent.

What do we do when we hear a song we actually enjoy? We download it. We sample it. We even sample the rest of the CD. What do we do if we enjoy it so much we shit ourselves? We buy it, not only for the music, but for everything that comes with it including artwork, lyrics, and anything else that may be included. What do we do if we kind of enjoy it? We debate, balance the cost vs. the quality, and it can lean either way. What do we do if we think it sucks? We're not going to buy it anyway. What would the difference make if we burned it onto a CD for the few good songs?

Finally, if you're going to sue the individuals that download the music and burn it onto a CD-R, why not sue those who burn CD to CD? Maybe you should go after those in the 90's that were recording onto cassette tapes. It's no different. You want to sample something, you can borrow it from a friend. Burn it, give it back to your friend, and listen to assess it. If you like it, you'll buy it. If you don't, at least you got a copy, but you will never spend the $15 for a CD that you don't expect to play but once a month (if not a year).

I believe the music industry has a good argument, don't get me wrong. Point is, they're contradicting and automatically blaming the consumer for what possibly might be their fault. Releasing shitty music for little kids that will eventually stop buying their crappy music anyway. Music companies push bands to be mainstream to attract other crowds causing possibly higher record sales, but a shorter career.

My point: The music industry does not need to point the finger at the consumer without assessing the possibility that they're merely digging their own grave.