How the Record Industry Crashed

A new book by author Steve Knopper (Rolling Stone, Wired, Esquire) chronicles the record industry’s relentless rise to riches during the CD era to its dramatic demise in the post Napster digital age - Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age.

There’s a review at the New York Times - When Labels Fought the Digital, and the Digital Won that begins - “You can’t roll a joint on an iPod,” the singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne told The New York Times Magazine early last year…

…No, but you can snort cocaine. No doubt the excesses of the music industry played some small part in its downfall and yes, the times they are a-changin’.

Regarding the Music Industry, I refer you to the Einstein quote in the post prior to this one.

(P.S.I like vinyl too Shelby!)

Copyright Crunch Leads to Pirates Prisons Project

Reblogged from: http://biasadjustment.blogspot.com/2009/01/copyright-crunch-leads-to-pirates....

A radical new project designed to punish and reform illegal downloaders of copyrighted music could prove to be a huge money spinner for tech savvy investors. The Pirates Prisons Project aims to capitalize on the current copyright crunch by building 100s of 1000s of new prisons to house the unlimited supply of illegal internet users. If proposed legislation to criminalise billions of music fans goes ahead, the high probability of re-offending represents a once-in-a-lifetime investment  opportunity to secure real financial gains for PPP shareholders.

The ingenious shares scheme relies on the music industry's desire for economic dominance. However critics of doom and bust policies believe the music industry's strategy of using a failed business model is enevitably doomed to failure (See links below). Only (prison) time will tell.

Prison/Copyright Reform Related

Two articles I wrote in 2006 warning of the impending copyright crunch: