All of a sudden this is a big issue. Copyright. Ownership of music. Why? Because digital music (MP3 in particular) has almost completely removed the music from the media. It's music in it's rawest form.
It's now possible (and desirable) to buy and CD and use it in a hundred different ways... MP3 playlist, CDr, tape, MiniDisc. And so the issue... when I buy a CD, do I own just the CD (and not the music on it)... or just the music and not the CD on it... or maybe I'm just leasing the music. Buying the right to listen to it. If this is the case (as some seems to say the fine print says when you really dig down to it) why is it illegal for me to download the MP3s of this CD? Maybe I'm only buying the right to listen to this music on this media only.
And now I ask.. is that worth $25-$30? For a CD, I'd say it is as I buy the CD not just for the music but for the product itself. A lot of collectors would agree with me, as the auction listed below shows.
But we've discovered recently that $25-$30 has nothing to do with the cost of the CD to product. The cost of the CD is mostly absorbed by the company, with the price being the companies 'cost' of the music itself (and promotion/recording costs involved). How do we know this? Because they're trying to sell music online for around the same price as the CD.
But I prefer to listen to music in the car on a CD. If I had an MP3 player in the car this may change, but for now, I want music on a CD. If I bought online I'd want to burn it to CD. Extra cost to me... but then, if I bought a CD and wanted to listen on the computer I'd have the same issue...
I'm just thinking out loud...
We've always had to pay for the same music over and over again. Vinyl -> Tape -> CD -> Remastered series -> Best Ofs with an extra track. Why should digital music be any different? Because it's really obvious with Digital Music that we're only paying for what we already own... the music. We're not getting ANYTHING extra at all but the music (and the conveniance of playing on the computer). What's more, we can create our own digital music from our existing formats, why pay for it?
We could walk into a CD shop and pay for the right to listen to the new Mr Bungle album, plus a fee to purchase this music on CD. Then, should we loose the CD we could buy a new copy for just the format fee, not having to buy the right to listen all over again.
Emusic sold MP3s before they folded. When you bought the MP3 (I bought the They Might Be Giants album that was released there) you could download it up to 4 or 5 times (can't remember exactly). So you effectively bought the right to listen to the music, and should you lose the MP3 you could get it again. You wern't just buying the MP3 itself.
Why limit to 4 or 5 downloads? To prevent people sending their password to Warez sites and having anyone download the track. Would you have to limit CD purchases? Obviously someone could buy a ton of extra copies for their friends... but it would be pretty obvious... although it's very hard to proove this person didn't just loose thier CD every day for a week. They could have been unlucky?
Again... thinking out loud... Comments? Email me.
More Powderfinger 'Collectable' Madness
Powderfinger's second EP, 'Transfusion' is on auction at Ebay. Currently it's Aus$385 with 3 days to go. About three years ago I used to frequently see this CD for $5 at second hand stores. I actually bought one for my girlfriend at the time. Maybe I should tell her what it's worth.
It is no where near as rare as 'The Blue EP' and yet it is going for far more. Maybe it has something do with the quality of music on it. I love this EP, the Blue EP is apparently crap.