
Recording Industry Claims Imaginary Value Gap as a Bigger Threat Than Piracy - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/05/recording-industry-claims-imaginary-value-gap-bigger-threat-piracy
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mowenz
>[...technological advancements] created a "value gap" that _deprives_ the
recording industry of royalties they believe should be theirs.

Creative destruction is healthy and necessary for the function of economic
progress.

Recording industry exectutives enjoyed decades of outsized profits (greater
revenues as a proportion of sales than the artists themselves) distributing
music. Now that the value of the service they offer has declined, due to
technological progress, their profits are reduced.

The problem is that while this industry's value proposition has declined, they
still have political capital that can force regulatory and anti-competitive
actions onto the marketplace as strategies to retain profits.

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davidgerard
They literally know they're asking YouTube for money that they know doesn't
actually exist. Their basis is that Google has money and they'd like it.
That's it.

[https://rocknerd.co.uk/2017/04/03/record-labels-want-
money-y...](https://rocknerd.co.uk/2017/04/03/record-labels-want-money-
youtube-doesnt-earn-just-because-google-has-some-and-theyd-like-it/)

It's important to remember that the labels were saying the same things about
Spotify last year, before it saved their backsides with 2016's numbers. But
with Spotify, they own a chunk of it and have minimum income guarantees, i.e.
free money.

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thomastjeffery
It's all imaginary. They just have enough legal clout to enforce it.

