Len's Rants

So I have been asked to write a column where I bitch and moan. From the looks of it I can complain and gripe about anything and I like that. Of course, with limits such as that danger often lurks. Should I discuss the evils of Fundamentalism—Islamic and Christian; fascism in America; the deterioration of Blacksburg at the hands of developers; girls with "QT" or "cutie" in some fashion on their license plates? Well, if allowed, all these topics might be approached. However, for today we will stick with a topic that many have become familiar with in recent years and one less likely to get people all worked up—downloading.

Downloading—be it music, films, or simply regular ol' data—is at the root of problems that the music industry (and potentially the film industry) is facing today. Or so they would have you believe. I am not going to go on and on about the RIAA (the Recording Industry Association of America) and their invasion of privacy and how they are suing everyone they can for copyright infringement. I am not here to champion free-use and public domain material versus private intellectual property. Instead I want to discuss some potential reasons as to why people, consumers, are turning to downloading rather than hand over their hard earned money to the Labels.

Back when Napster first emerged if the recording industry had approached it with open arms rather than handcuffs and lawsuits I really don't think that the majority of us would have minded paying for downloads. Instead the industry labeled its consumers as thieves and potential threats to their already dated and suffering business model. When a market base is threatened it too goes on the defensive and in this case the result was far more flagrant downloading. Unless the RIAA and the Labels pull their heads out of their collective asses and learn to adapt to a future business model and put aside the business as usual methods of yesteryear, they will continue to lose revenue, influence and control.

Here are some of my suggestions:

1. STOP PRODUCING SHITTY MUSIC - simple enough isn't it? Whatever happened to A&R? The actual working with and development of artists to ensure longterm success both artistically and financially? Sure there have always been bad bands that snuck under the radar and gotten play and sales but to intentionally flood your market with clones of clones of clones of crappy "artists" will eventually erode the market and turn your base against you. The music over the past decade or so is the result of the quick hits, instant cash outlook the Labels have chosen to pursue rather than a longer investment in their repertoire. Look at the current state of mainstream hip hop. Sales have plummeted and even Def Jam founder Russell Simmons was quoted as saying a good reason why was the inability to "fool the white kids" anymore. How many Lil's and Young/Yung/Yun's are there to prove this point? And don't get me started on the little Teen Divas and the boy bands that flooded the industry over the last ten years.
2. COMPRESSION IS NOT YOUR FRIEND - This one is for you Nashville (and some of LA). Much of the "popular" music today is not recorded dynamically like it was in the past, taking care of the levels, volumes and placement of the instruments in the arrangement. Today, instead, a computer program is used to compress the hell out of the music, chopping off the highs and lows, in an attempt to make things louder. Well, with louder music comes louder noise. So now not only do you have crappy recordings but you get them louder. And if it is gonna sound like crud then why not just have an mp3 version of the song? MP3 are already crappy sounding and on your ear buds you won't notice the difference. Download or pay for crap? Hmm.
3. GREATEST HITS WITH NEW MUSIC - C'mon people. How many times do we need to see this crap? A greatest hits collection with 1, 2 maybe 3 never before released tracks!! What? How can a new song be on the greatest hits of an artist? What if the song sucks? What if it wasn't used before for a reason? Why shouldn't I just download the song? Why should the music industry expect me to pay $15 for music that I already have from buying the artists' regular albums simply to get a single song?
4. ALTERNATE ALBUM VERSIONS - This one pisses me off because a lot of times it is the artist that is involved with this and not always just the label. You have seen this. A band releases an album and then they release a second version simultaneously with only one song difference. So not only do they want you to shell out $X for version A with all 15 songs, they want you to hand over an additional $X for the one song on version B. Once again, why not download the song? Good Charlotte and more notoriously, Insane Clown Posse, have done this to their fans. Nothing like sending your fans running by the droves to their favorite torrent site.
5. STOP PRODUCING SHITTY MUSIC 2 - Back when Napster was getting attacked by the likes of Lars Ulrich who was complaining he was losing money from it, did anyone stop to look at Lars and listen to his band's music at the time? Probably not, because at the time Metallica had ceased being relevant to anyone but themselves. They haven't put out a good album since the Black Album and to many fans even that was pushing it. Everyone knows Lars is a little bitch who, rather than address the problem of his band deteriorating, sought to create a stir that in the end perpetuated far more downloading than it sought to stop.
6. ALTERNATE ALBUM VERSIONS 2 - It is one thing for an album to get a makeover and reissue 20 years after its initial release, especially "classic" albums, however, every band today, especially the younger ones that prey on the 12-24 yr old demographic, are getting the reissue and expansion treatment. Only, a couple months after the initial release!! So, not only do you pay for the album when it comes out, the label expects you to buy it again 3 months later with some extra crap tacked on the end. To Limewire we go!!
7. STOP PRODUCING SHITTY MUSIC 3 - Emo. Kill it. This is music made by pussies for pussies about why no one likes them and how they always lose the girl. Newsflash—chicks don't like losers, get over it. And emo-girls, stop letting your boyfriends wear your clothes.