When Pigs Fly: The Death Of Oink, The Birth Of Dissent, And A Brief History Of Record Industry Suicide.

[MetDream]

For quite a long time I've been intending to post some sort of commentary on the music industry - piracy, distribution, morality, those types of things. I've thought about it many times, but never gone through with it, because the issue is such a broad, messy one - such a difficult thing to address fairly and compactly. I knew it would result in a rambly, unfocused commentary, and my exact opinion has teetered back and forth quite a bit over the years anyway. But on Monday, when I woke up to the news that Oink, the world famous torrent site and mecca for music-lovers everywhere, had been shut down by international police and various anti-piracy groups, I knew it was finally time to try and organize my thoughts on this huge, sticky, important issue.

Full Article Here

[metmum]

Very well thought out and the points at the end make perfect sense.

[Fadingtoblack]

That was a great article! And it hit the nail right on the head in every way.

[Luís]

Great read, thanks for sharing ( ) it with us.

[OutlawTorn81]

Just saw this posted over at the NIN Hotline. Sheridan may be on to something there. I must also add that I'm greatly disappointed (but not sure if actually surprised) that the Radiohead release was all a ploy and that the CD release is going to be far superior to what they offered online. Greedy record industry.

This will likely rekindle discussion regarding Metallica's future after they're free from their contract with Warner. I don't remember, is the "forthcoming" release the last one that they owe or is there still a second one after that? Hopefully this will be the last one so that they can regain the creative control that we all know Lars wants.

[Vader]

Wow. I don't have the attention span to read all that, but I skimmed parts of it, and the part that stood out most is where he talks about the RIAA suing people. One time I heard someone say it best. The music industry is the only industry to actually sue its own customers. And now with that verdict in MN and the fact that the RIAA is now suing usenet, I'm just waiting for the day it becomes illegal to actually own a CD. Or to listen to music at all.