It made me a little angry tonight listening to the last hour or so of the grammys, when I got to hear a rant about how ripping music from cds, and downloading songs from the internet, is taking food off of the plates of the children of millions of recording artists, sound engineers, and record executives. The problem isn't electronic distribution of music. The problem isn't that the Grammy staff could have three college students successfully download 6,000 songs from the internet in the period of 24 hours without paying for the music. The problem isn't that people are making archival backup copies of their cds to be stored offsite (under the supervision of friends).
The problem is that an industry is acting myopic. There's a very large market out there waiting for industrious people to release music in mp3 format. The format has been out for five years, and players are becoming common. Where are they getting this music? Where are they supposed to get it if no one will sell it to them?
An excellent foray into the problem with music and mp3s today from Matt Haughey brings a message to those who produce music. On their web site, the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA), answers the question: What is your stand on MP3? Maybe they should read Matt's article and try answering again.
