The one where I solve the RIAA's problems...

Today on TechTv, they aired what I think was a debate between record industry spokesmen and file-swappers, moderated by Leo Laporte. I didn't get to see more than a few seconds of it at the end where a guy from EMI was saying that there won't be any good music if everyone invovled isn't getting paid.

I think that it is arguable that there is not alot of good music coming out of the major labels right now anyway, I agree with his point, but I think that the way that the RIAA has gone about trying to shop illegal file-swapping is wrong (i.e. suing twelve-year-old girls).

I think that the problem with the music industry lies in the fact that it is not recognizing the need for a shift in emphasis on what it is the labels do.

Right now they seem intent on the fact that they are a CD manufacturing company. Much in the same way that Xerox is not in the copy business, they are in the toner business.

Was there this type of an insistence on keeping the 8-Track format that there is on the pre-packaged CD? It's a bit like Sony's determination to make the mini-disc popular. The record companies are missing out on an opportunity to shape a new way of distributing music.

I-tunes and the other pay-download services are fine and good, but if you are a Ramones fan do you really want to pay a dollar for each and every minute-and-a-half long song?

The real thing that the RIAA is afraid of is that the musicians will discover that, with modern technology, not only can they record and produce their own music without a studio, but they can distribute it worldwide by themselves as well. But that's neither here nor there.

What the labels need to do is re-think the way that they distribute and take advantage of the technology at hand.

How, you ask?

Come with me into the rosy world I like to call THE FUTURE. In the Future there are robots, but there are also lots and lots of places to download and burn music. Not just from a person's home computer, that is not a place that the company's can fully control, but from access points in malls and stores.

Imagine if you will a music store where there is no stock, only listening stations where the shopper can listen to excerpts from every song in every label's catalog. There are artist and album listings from all times and genres that are available. A listener can choose either a pre-generated album (i.e. Beatles Abbey Road) or compile one of only the songs that they want. Then they can have the CD burned on demand, complete with on-demand liner notes and jewel cases.

The only stock that the store need carry is blank CD's.

I would imagine that Wal-Mart, Target and K-Mart would love this idea as it would completely eliminate theft of CD's.

The labels could then have by the minute sales figures for every song and album in their catalogues.

This would also allow people with no access to the internet to use the digital technology to record their CD's. It would also cut into the used CD market, unless they wanted to start selling mixed CD's.

You pipe the music to these terminals using the same type of direct access phone-lines that ATM's use to access your bank account info.

The supreme upside of these terminals is that with newer technology you could add DVD or other capabilities to them, and they would get smaller and smaller, allowing for easier placement in, say, a library or restaurant.

Think about it and get back to me record industry.

Oh, and by the way, I am now insituting a boycott on all major label albums. I will no longer purchase any new CD's from labels that are a part of the RIAA. I realize that this type of boycott hurts the artists as well, but they should learn that they can distribute their own product just as effectively as a record label, who will only be able to give you a deal if you are pretty enough.

I've been under this boycott for about a month now, and the only break that I made from it was to purchase Johnny Cash's American Recordings, since I have not seen it used anywere. That was the only special circumstance, from now on only used CD's. RIAA you get no more money from me. None.