I also notice that I’m paying a lot more attention (and $$) to local artists than I would have otherwise.

Thanks RIAA!

What I don’t understand is why anyone concerned with making money would take a stance that threatens its customer base. That’s not typically a good marketing strategy. Typically manufacturers and service providers strive to find what their customers want and create a product that serves their needs.

Clearly customers want portability, not of a physical object in this case, but of the content. Why not work with that need to develop products or sales strategies that meet the need rather than conflict with the need. Consumers are far more likely to buy from concerns they respect than from companies (or consortiums) they equate with the evil empire.

I wonder how long it will take for them to work with consumers and find a satisfactory solution. This is not, after all, a new problem. We’ve had the ability to record, through reel-to-reel, then cassette, then digital for many many decades. People haved copied their music both to preserve the original source and to share with their friends via mix-tapes and the like.

Now that we’re in an age where commercial radio is no longer a viable way to learn about new music, sharing, through mixed CD’s and other means becomes a key component of music marketing. The ability to download a song or two to sample before buying is one of the few ways we can hear things that aren’t getting radio play.

Viral marketing has been a buzzword for so long that it’s now old hat. Yet the industry fights it, when to embrace it would probably be far more lucrative for everyone.