stephenfeltmate

The Music Industry's Betrayal of Capitalism

I purchase a LOT of music (yes, purchase - as opposed to stealing from artists whose music I appreciate). Every single music file on my computer is legitimate and that will never change.

What will change are the artists and record companies who get my money. Recently, I purchased a CD from EMI Canada (Korn: See You On The Other Side). It was a copy-protected CD but I did not have a problem with that and am in fact working on a business model that will incorporate this. Two other CDs that I recently purchased also had copy-protection and I had no problems utilizing their content with my digital music vendor (Apple - iTunes and iPod; excellent music quality and very highly rated in most consumer reports I have read). But not this CD.

In order copy digital music to one's computer you need to use its built-in software which is beyond painfully slow - it took about 15 minutes to copy the entire CD where it normally takes about 3 minutes when I use iTunes. But what really irked me is the fact that I cannot use iTunes to play this and I cannot copy it to my iPod!

On the back of the CD in very tiny lettering is a advisory beneath the line "Windows Media (WMA)/iPod" that says: "this may not be compatible with iPod". This is outright deception. They knew damn well that this wouldn't be compatible with iPod OR iTunes when they manufactured the CD!

You see the digital files are in WMA format and because they are protected iTunes cannot convert them to MP3 format. This means you have to use Windows Media Player or Winamp to play them. This is unacceptable to me. The record companies do NOT, in my opinion, have the right to impose on the consumer which vendor will be used to consume the content.

On EMI's website (http://www.emimusic.info/ca_EN/) it is explained that the reason the digital content is not iTunes compatible is because Apple is not licensing its solution. In other words, they are admitting that they have intentionally restricted consumer choice rather than waiting until all of the technical pieces were in place to roll out their copy-protection campaign. They rushed this to market without regard for how this would affect the very individuals who are funding their existence.

This is not just a betrayal of the consumer, this is a betrayal of capitalism. Capitalism depends on trust and confidence between the consumer and producer. While producers have every right to take action to protect their property and profits they do not have the right to restrict a consumer's choice of vendor. Doing so is not only unethical it erodes consumer confidence.

But it gets worse! Recently Song/BMG were caught red-handed installing spyware on consumer's computers. This spyware was created by a company called First 4 Internet and includes a "phone-home" component that contacts Sony over the Internet and provides their servers with specific information (http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/11/more-on-sony-dangerous-decloaking.html). Sony has been sued by California, Texas, and The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). This spyware can also leave a consumer's computer unstable and vulnerable to malicious hackers (http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html).

For more information see http://www.fedge.net/emi/

All those who truly believe in capitalism must take action immediately and boycott these companies' products and services until such a time that they demonstrate a renewed commitment to the fundamentals that allow our system of commerce to work. Continuing to support these organizations is to undermine one's own best interests as a consumer and a participant in capitalism.