I Like Good Tracks and I Cannot Lie

I was watching Bill Maher on some late night show. He was doing the rounds, promoting his latest show, and I think a recent comedy special. However it went, he got asked his thoughts on music piracy (cause, you know, being a comedian, he has a lot of music for people to steal). What he said was that he had to buy records back in the day, and often times wound up with a crappy album with one track he liked, and thus, everyone now should have to deal with the same.

Basically, he spouts a "It aint broke, so don't you dare fix it" mantra that goes totally against progress and the evolution of technology. Just because he had to deal with what he bought, everyone from then, until now, and through to eternity has to deal with it as well.

That argument doesn't make a whole lot of sense. For starters, even before MP3s "revolutionized" the way music was distributed, people were stealing tracks and listening to music before they bought it. It's called recording off other people's albums and taping off the radio. There was actually a huge ordeal when tapes came out, because the Music Industry felt they would remove the control over the product from the Industry and make it so anyone could listen without paying. Well, right idea, wrong product.

My basic argument has always been if music wasn't so expensive, I'd buy more. But still most albums are 15 to 20 bucks, for new and old stuff. Movies don't work that way, and while music sales are declining, movies go ever strong. I mean, let's look at it. A new movie debuts at 22 bucks. Some people buy it, others wait. after a while it drops to 17, then 15, then 10... and years down the road, its at the magic 6 buck bargain bin status, and they release a new version with more features, at 22 bucks. There's still that option of buying the older version for cheap, or waiting for the new version to get cheaper.

But Music doesn't do this. A new band makes an album. It debuts at 9.99... the if the band takes off, the price soars to 20 bucks, and for the rest of eternity, stays at 20 bucks, as does every album they release after that. I realize music is timeless and you can listen to something over and over... but really. 20 bucks forever?

Admittedly, some record companies are releasing stuff and having it ride at 12 to 15 bucks, and I am all about that. Makes it easier for me to buy albums, and if the album sucks, it wasn't as costly an error on my part. I can live with that. But, still, I find that I have to listen to stuff in MP3 format before I buy, just to see if the album I do want that still is 20 bucks is worth my time... and most times, it isn't.

What gets me even more is that instead of rally trying to figure out what's wrong with their product, they make one price drop and then start suing everyone that downloads. How is that smart? Yeah, you aren't buying our music, so we're suing you as incentive to start buying our music. Idiots.

But, my time is up here. Later on.