Marketing geniuses need not apply...

Okay, what genius is responsible for the whole Napster fiasco? I think that to blame Lars Ulrich for being clueless is a good place to start but really, someone has to have some sort of clue as to what is really going on... Here is how I have seen the whole ordeal.

A few industrious souls threw together a music sharing network no one really knew about and a few hundred people took advantage of it. No lives were harmed, but a few copyrights were broken in the process. Slap on the wrist things.

A few high profile people got ruffled up by this. They went to the news. Suddenly, this few hundred people turned into a few million people. Congratulations on building a monster. Okay, so it's out of control now, but whos idea was it to tell everyone how to take advantage of the technology they didn't know existed? How much easier would it have been to round up a few than build an army for the other side?

Record sales start going up. I am NOT KIDDING about this. People listen to more music, and actually buy more CDs. Record companies claim they are losing their shirts, but a public apathetic to new music has found a spark to get people out of their chairs and into the stores. Why? Fear of copyright police. If you listen and like, you'd best own a copy within 24 hours or pay a much higher price. Funny how that part of the equation has never really been focused on, but people are really not too keen on breaking the law. Guilt makes people do a lot of things...

Corporate greed kicks in and they punish the messenger. Okay... Explain this? Your sales are higher and you want to stop the medium for distribution? Here is my take on the subject. In doing this, you have a)removed a centralized source from the loop. It is easier to keep tabs on one source than 30, but instead, you've driven people to alternate sources that are non-centralized and almost impossible to track, such as BearShare, Audio Galaxy or WinMX (all of which are highly publicized on CNN and other sources... this is not news anymore.) and b)removed a highly visible distribution outlet which could have been an excellent source with a little retooling. In one place you have a built in customer base, easy to acquire statistics and as much publicity as you could want... so what gives?

Sure I have a respect for artists rights, and I am not implying that theft of their creative time and effort should be trivialized, but it is all a matter of greed on the part of the record companies. Ask Little Richard or Prince how much these companies care about the artists who work so hard. Still, without the system, the artists would be playing small venues forever, never getting the widespread distribution some of them deserve. I am not the only one who thinks so. Alanis Morrisette and Don Henley have expressed this as well. It should have been handled much differently... and for a band that claims it cares so much for the fans, Metallica has been actively working against the very people they so claim to support. Isn't it ironic... dontcha think?

This had the potential to revolutionize digital media. Now you are scaring away the very market you aim for. Who will download from a paid music site now that they fear the law may change yet again? Obviously the system in place was working but needed a little more work to be all things to all parties involved... Leave it up to big business to hold their foot up to their head before shooting themselves in it.

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