<nettime> Menso Heus: [rant] And this is why record sales drop...

[Patrice Riemens <patrice@xs4all.nl>]

(From the HippiesfromHell discussion list & with permission of the author)
(A very informative article putting 'the problem' in perspective is at:
http://uk.eurorights.org/issues/cd/)


--------

Hi,


I visited a record shop today because I wanted to buy Lauryn Hill's
Unplugged album. I found it, listened to it and actually quite liked it.

While I was listening to it, I studied the back of the album a bit more
and noticed a little line saying "WILL NOT PLAY ON PC/MAC"

Right. I put off the headphones and the girl behind the counter asked if I
wanted to buy it or not. I told her I really liked it, but that I wouldn't
buy it since it'd be of no use to me if I couldn't play it on a computer.
She smiled in a sort of apologizing way and said "Yeah, we can't even play
it in our dvd players here in the store."

Then her colleague stepped up and said that I shouldn't believe this and
that I probably could and that it wasn't all that bad. I told him it
didn't matter to me and that I wanted to buy a CD, not some shiny thing
that might just do what I pay it for. They were both silent for a bit and
then the girl said "Yeah, you know what, you're right".

So, the situation? We have someone who was willing to pay 21 euro's for an
album and ended up not buying it because of the 'copyright protection' and
probably will procede downloading it from a p2p network.

Thing is, this isn't the first time I don't buy an album because of this,
I didn't buy the latest Freestylers album either for the exact same
reason, and there probably were and will be more albums like this.

Solutions? The music should either be provided on mediums that comply with
the standards... or the artists should put up little paypall buttons on
their websites.


Menso
-- 
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 obsessed with angels or machines, the final wish is love" - A. Ginsberg
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