The record labels know they can't do it... they'll eventually screw it up by having the different pricing structure for the various artists. People aren't going to pay double the price for a song just because it's Justin Timberlake or Britney Spears, the majority of people who use MP3s are from the younger generations who have no problems firing up a filesharing software and getting it for free. When the record labels get greedy is when they lose money. The record labels really messed up when filesharing first came out, if they would have embraced it from the get-go they'd be in a lot better shape. If they would have come out with pay-for-download services in 1998 or 1999 there would have been no real need for the hundreds of song-swapping softwares that were around then and now. But, since they didn't embrace it and people started getting songs for free from Napster, WinMX, Kazaa, Bearshare, Limewire and the hundreds of others... people are now saying "why pay? Screw the greedy bastards."
"It doesn't matter that the RIAA has been wrong about innovations and the perceived threat to their industry every single time," Cuban wrote. "It just matters that they can spend more (than) everyone else on lawyers." _________________
www.emusic.com charges 25 cents a song, but they feature indie labels. By the way, does Cuban provide the radio and tv broadcasts of the Mavericks free of charge to broadcasting outlets?
Cuban knows his ****, but until he sells the Mavs and leaves Dallas, he is the same ole whiny pusscrud Mav scum.
Kind of off-topic, but... Another reason to like Cuban Cradle of punk facing possible eviction Owner trying to stave off death of CBGB Monday, March 21, 2005 Posted: 10:40 AM EST (1540 GMT) NEW YORK (AP) -- Hours earlier, Hilly Kristal was with rock's royalty inside a Waldorf-Astoria ballroom for the latest Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions. By the morning, though, Kristal sips a cup of coffee and pops an antacid as he considers the future of his own piece of rock history: CBGB's, the venerable birthplace of punk. After 32 years in business, the world-renowned club on the Bowery is in danger of losing its lease. "Even at this Hall of Fame thing, people were coming up and asking, 'What can we do? What can we do?' " Kristal recalls, sitting at his cramped desk just inside the club's front door. "It's very discouraging after all these years." Kristal says the club owes $91,000 in back rent -- through a bookkeeping mix-up. (His landlord concurs, but still wants the money.) Come August, when its lease expires, he expects the current $19,000 monthly rent to at least double, although Kristal's landlord says there will be no new lease unless the old mess is gone. "Show me you can meet your current obligations, and then we'll talk about new ones," says Muzzy Rosenblatt, executive director of the Bowery Residents' Committee. "His destiny is in his own hands." Rosenblatt's group holds a 45-year lease on the building, where the agency houses 250 homeless people above the club. CBGB's is their lone commercial tenant; their rent feud dates back five years, when the committee went to court to collect more than $300,000 in back rent from the club. The agency currently is in court trying to evict CBGB's, citing the current unpaid rent and Kristal's alleged failure to repair code violations in the legendary club. Kristal is battling on both fronts. "I'm energized," says the gray-bearded owner. "I'm going to fight." For fans of the dank storefront bar, its demise would mean the demolition of the Empire Punk Building. "I consider it a historic place," says Tommy Ramone, drummer in one of the club's most enduring bands. "It would be like losing a landmark of sorts, you know?" CBGB's, with its familiar white awning, holds a special place in the city's music history. It was here that the Ramones, the Talking Heads and Blondie created the punk scene for small crowds that paid a $1 cover charge. "CBGB's allowed bands -- original bands, no less -- the freedom to go and play and do whatever they pleased," recalls Tommy Ramone. "It was a good fit." Rosenblatt is aware of the club's legacy. He and his future wife shared their first kiss inside the club, although he's quick to add that nostalgia won't keep its doors open. Kristal Hilly Kristal founded CBGB in 1973. "I will not subsidize CBGB's at the expense of the homeless," Rosenblatt said. "I can't allow my own sentimentality to impede our ability to serve homeless people." For Rosenblatt, that's one of the major problems in his agency's dispute with Kristal. He estimates the committee has spent $50,000 in legal fees and expenses to collect back rent from the club and to force Kristal to bring his space up to code, taking money away from the homeless. Kristal suggested that greed was at the root of his problems with the landlord. A new tenant could afford a much steeper rent, and the building housing the club is now worth many millions of dollars, he said. Back in the early '90s, when the neighborhood was still dicey, Kristal considered buying the building -- but he couldn't raise the needed $4 million. The majority of money generated by the club now comes from T-shirt sales, he said. Kristal was considering several options, including turning the space into a museum during the day. The club is already a repository of rock 'n' roll memorabilia, with every spare inch of its walls covered in posters, fliers and stickers for hundreds of bands. Several wealthy benefactors have also stepped up with offers to rescue the club, including Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. "It's an icon of the New York music scene," the dot-com billionaire said by e-mail, confirming his interest. Kristal doesn't know if that will help. "You raise $50,000, $100,000 -- big deal," he said. "This is going to be $20,000 a month more, at least. It doesn't make sense."
As far as the p*rn industry, since I work for a p*rn company, the more free content the better. Trust me, it all works out The mysterious ways of p*rn! by the way my all time favorite free p*rn web site http://www.richards-realm.com
Same reason they embraced videotape and DVD. They want to get their product out to anyone who wants it and any method of distribution is just as good as the next one. In addition, P2P is a better mechanism because of the low distribution costs. The p*rn indistry has been behind every new distribution technology and will continue to be.
Hooo.... this is an excellent quote from that article in the chron: "During a lively argument, [supreme court] justices wondered aloud whether such lawsuits might have discouraged past inventions like copy machines, videocassette recorders and iPod portable music players — all of which can be used to make illegal duplications of copyrighted documents, movies and songs." so true! -- droxford
William Rehnquist is a P-I-M-P! He has 50 Cent's Get Rich Or Die Tryin on his iPod... he jams to it in his chambers.
