Interesting Tim O'Reilly article.

From: Lawrence Walker <lgwalker_at_mts.net>
Date: Sun Dec 15 04:05:00 2002

 Oops I displaced that by a decade. Should be midsixties to
midseventies. To us old farts one decade looks much like another.

 However, I meant controlling the media and it isn't only the MP3 thing
that has them worried. Amazingly good quality music can be
produced in home studios using IT and can then be used to produce
your own CD to be sold at shows or transmitted via the internet. The
recent moves to force alternate radio to pay exhorbitant RIAA and
ASCAP royalties is also a part of it. They're trying to shut it down
before it gets to a point where they can't control it. Hopefully it's too
late. And considering their sorry history of ripping off artists the
crocodile tears they are shedding for the creative artist is laughable.

 As many professional musician friends of mine have said, " the
music part of it is great, the business side of it sucks". From club
owners, to producers , to record companies, and broadcasters.
 The few who AREN'T leeches are the exceptions. I say to the
Napster kids, go for it, burn the bastards.
 And the film industry stinks just as highly. Very little good or original
film comes out of Hollywood. And when they do gamble and it wins
big, they milk it to death by doing the same format over and over until
the public grows tired of it. Most of the best stuff comes from
independents and foreign film. But of course the control lies in the
distribution which Hollywood has by the throat, even here in Canada.
If you can't show it in the tightly controlled theatre networks, you
can't make back production costs. Another area ripe for assault.

Lawrence


On 15 Dec 2002, , Mike Ford wrote:

>
> > One of the good things that happened in the late 50s and 60s was
> >that for a time the "Biz" got out of control of an industry that had
> >fallen behind the current musical tastes. Whoops, correction made by
> >the mid-sixties, and rigid enforcement and standardization of play
> >lists brought "pop music" (and R&R for that matter) firmly under their
>
>
> Don't forget the 70's where FM emerged as a uncontrolled source of
> music, and hundreds of small labels sprang up with all sorts of great,
> or at least unique, music. Then came the CD and record label control of
> available pressing plants killed off all the independents save maybe an
> eclectic handful. No this MP3 stuff has them seriously worried about
> control and survival.
>
>


lgwalker_at_mts.net
bigwalk_ca_at_yahoo.com
Received on Sun Dec 15 2002 - 04:05:00 GMT