Is this a joke? I’ve seen Sonic Youth for $20 in Chicago and am going to see My Bloody Valentine in San Francisco for far less than this.
Archive for the 'music' Category
There’s been a lot of good discussion lately about more and more universities standing up to the RIAA and refusing to identify filesharing students and forward settlement letters. Eric Rehm from the University of Washington, in a letter to Vice-Provost Eric Godfrey, spells out some ways that universities are pushing back against RIAA pressure–fighting the RIAA by refusing to hand out the letters (University of Wisconsin), bill the RIAA for the cost it takes to process the notices (University of Nebraska), and tell the RIAA to “take a hike” (Harvard University).
Recently, it’s been brought to our attention that the University of Michigan (where I currently attend school) has just forwarded on a slew of letters to students concerning alleged p2p filesharing identified by the RIAA. While I praise the aforementioned universities for standing up to the RIAA, I respect the University of Michigan’s explanation in sending the letters. The university is trying to support the best interests of its students. By delivering the notices, the university can give students a bit of a legal head start by providing things like legal assistance. If the university does not send the letters, all bets are off as to whether the RIAA will settle. Students lose because they get named in lawsuits. The university looks like it withheld vital piece of information that could have students pain and suffering.
Most of the time, the question is not whether the RIAA will be able to match student names with university IP addresses. This can be done by university decision or subpoena. The question is how universities should support their students. The position held by the University of Michigan seems fairly fatalistic–”if we don’t tell you now, the RIAA will tell you later, except then, it will be much worse.” Universities need to try to better balance the process of informing and supporting students without being strong-armed by groups like the RIAA, who have been frequently targeting schools to hammer its zero-tolerance anti-piracy agenda. Universities should not be seen as a convenient mail delivery system. At the same time, let’s not feed students to the wolves by keeping them in the dark.
On the eve of Radiohead’s “pay-what-you-want” release of In Rainbows, it’s interesting to speculate what effect the semi-novel purchasing scheme will have on consumers, what it means for Radiohead, and what it may signal to the music industry. Since the announcement of the donation model a week-and-a-half ago, fans have praised Radiohead for the seemingly innovative move that aims to accommodate the wishes of a broad range of fans.
Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, spoke to WNYC’s Bob Garfield on WNYC’s “On the Media.” Cowen points out that Radiohead’s intentions may not be as altruistic as you might think. Under a typical major label agreement, a band like Radiohead would probably receive about $2 from the sale of each record. Even if consumers choose to pay nothing for In Rainbows, the donation plan carries a $1 transaction fee. So, Radiohead will be receiving, at minimum, half of what a major label would have paid, assuming the worst case scenario that fans stiff Radiohead completely on the donation.
Cowen also observes that if many other bands attempt to implement this model, those artists will see diminishing returns–the urge to donate would get on consumers’ nerves, people would start to shut it out, and just end up doing what they want (Bittorrent, anyone?). Cowen also doesn’t see the model as replacing major label contracts, because the labels provide many things that Internet does not–they pay for production costs, they have distribution connections, etc. He claims that the donation model only works in very limited circumstances. Radiohead is a critically-acclaimed, successful band that doesn’t need a label anymore. They’ve put out consistently great albums, and fans trust them.
Listen to the full interview here.
