Record Industry Woes Aggravated by Years of Bad PR

Over the past several years MP3 Newswire has made numerous comments regarding the growing consumer enmity against the major labels and its Washington lobby the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA). An acrimonious disjoint between that industry and the consumer over advances in content distribution has arisen, one that I argue is having a devastating effect on the major labels. Yet the actions of this industry, unlike that of the NFL, are harshly confrontational to the feelings and opinions of the consumer.

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Today the major record labels don't have a positive brand image and the very public actions they have taken to control the rise of digital media and the Internet over the last several years is at the very heart of their fall from grace. To some the big labels are an anachronism. To others they are anti-consumer. The erosion of their image is dramatic and while we have seen plenty of polls attempting to gauge consumer thought, any attempt to apply sales figures to such measurements is elusive.

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The major labels have taken to blaming file sharing for all ills. In reality, file sharing is just one piece of a more complex puzzle that is still shaping itself as new technologies and digital strategies reshape the media landscape as a whole. To rely on file sharing as the universal scapegoat may have only served to distract label management from a much larger schism that hits at the heart of the traditional label/artist/ model. This includes the rise of tools that have empowered the artist directly like MySpace and YouTube.

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Whether one public event is enough to deter that impulse buy is highly debatable, but over the last several years the record industry has had numerous public confrontations and business miscues that in combination offer an insightful and ominous clue to the fading fortunes of Sony BMG, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group. Here is a recap of some of them.

Read them all, as they are definitely worth the read.

Is the record industry even necessary any more? I mean, CDs are on their way out, it's relatively easy for artists to make their music, and artists can sell their music to the consumer right from their own personal websites.

So, why do we still have the middleman? Why do we still pay exhorbitant fees that the artists never see?

Seems to me the record industry is not needed.

Unfortunately, music is not the high priority for the labels, profit it is. There is so much good music that the public never gets to hear because the record industry is constantly promoting what they believe is a high profit artist (usually bubblegum music).

I am a member of emusic and have found some fantastis songs and artists that I will never hear on the radio (except maybe internet radio, but wait, oh yeah, the RIAA is trying to squash that, too!). In reality, most good music is found by word of mouth.

So, I say to hell with the RIAA and the labels. I encourage artists to keep making great music because of your love of music (not for the love of money). If the music is good, the money will come.