
The music industry finds another way to shoot itself in the foot - AndrewDucker
http://reprog.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/the-music-industry-finds-another-way-to-shoot-itself-in-the-foot/
======
corin_
Yep, happens far too often, it's even more annoying when a legal mp3 download
is geo-restricted for a period of time.

While in LA a couple of weeks ago, I saw a fair bit of marketing for the MLB
2011 video game, published by 2K. (I was out there mainly to see the Dodgers
play, so no surprise there.) When back in the UK I was unable to buy a hard
copy _or_ a digital download, so I torrented it. Last week I was at a big
consumer event called Gadget Show Live (~100,000 visitors over 5 days), and
one of the companies we had sold space to was 2K, promoting Duke Nukem. While
chatting to one of the higher up guys in 2K I mentioned that I had been forced
to pirate it, and he showed no surprise. He did tell me that they were
expecting the game to arrive in the UK fairly soon.

While it's not quite the same situation, as an MLB game is obviously going to
find 99.99% of its audience outside the UK (in countries where they actually
play baseball, such as the US), it still goes to show that, even when being
distributed/marketed in different regions by the same company, sometimes the
release dates won't match, not because they have a reason for some people
having to wait, but simply because it's easier for them to deal with that way.

~~~
TillE
Same deal with Football Manager in Germany. Not available at all, though
they're still able to include the Bundesliga in the game, unlike the J-League.
Judging from their podcasts, sports licensing seems like a crazy nightmare.

Lesson learned: try not to create anything involving someone else's IP, unless
you enjoy spending lots of time with lawyers.

------
epoxyhockey
My band released an album mid-2010 through Disc Makers and part of the package
included Disc Makers publishing the album through multiple online music
vendors.

We set a specific release date, and all of the online music vendors respected
that release date, EXCEPT Amazon. Amazon made the music available for sale
exactly 13 days prior to our desired release date.

Since we aren't a super-commercialized band, the early release by Amazon was
more of an annoyance to us than a marketing strategy blunder. But, I guess it
was annoying enough for me to want to comment about it on the Internets.

~~~
MikeTaylor
Sorry to hear about your bad Amazon experience. I looked around a bit more,
though, and the late UK release of Paul Simon's album is not an Amazon thing,
it's UK-wide: HMV and Sainsbury both have the same release date in the UK as
Amazon does.

------
ethank
Come on people, do some research:

This is because Paul Simon is what is typical of an artist of his age:

He is handled ex-US (International) by Universal Music Domestically, as of
last year he is Sony Music

Worldwide until last year, he was represented by Warner Bros Records (WEA
Distribution).

What you are seeing is called "greed" on the part of all parties involved
(Simon and management included).

Another band that operates this way? Metallica: Warners in US, Universal ex-
US. Although the band made sure they were universally released on the last
record (Death Magnetic).

~~~
MikeTaylor
ethanks says: What you are seeing is called "greed" on the part of all parties
involved.

But how? I simply don't see how NOT MAKING THE PRODUCT AVAILABLE TO BE BOUGHT
can possibly help to line anyone's pockets.

I know I must be missing something here. But what?

~~~
ethank
Likely its some hack eyed windowing strategy that someone thought of. Just
like with the last REM record (which was the last I worked on), they did 3
different singles in different territories.

It could be because: \- Retail exclusive partnership \- Something to do with
local radio promotion \- Tour scheduling

Any number of things. Somewhere, in someones brain, this idea made sense
because it made someone more money in the long run, even if it hurts fans, etc
in the short.

Trust me, any time I heard the term "geoblocked" with a video exclusive I
wanted to scream. Still do!

~~~
ejesse
Same principle: The original Tron being essentially impossible to find (I
think I saw a DVD for like $300 on ebay) on any service... until... The Tron:
Legacy blu-rays came out. Then suddenly, the original Tron is easy to find.
And the crappy 480p torrent that I may or may not have downloaded now may or
may not have been replaced with a (purchased!) 1080p rip.

------
ctide
This doesn't even touch on the fact that albums now seem to leak months in
advance of their release date. I don't doubt that this means that people in
the UK can be listening to albums 2-3 months in advance of when they can
legally purchase them. I can't help but imagine this is one of the leading
causes of music piracy these days.

Why wait 3 months to listen to an album if you can get it today?

~~~
ethank
It is not hard to keep a record from leaking: just don't allow pre-releases,
or watermark them, or MSI them (MSI makes the disk violate redbook so it can't
be ripped). The whole reason that NPR and the like get a record one week
before street is because once the records are on trucks to retail (1 week out)
it leaks without fail.

The REM record I just worked on never leaked. Why? We protected the prerelease
distribution and people honored that. We also didn't put out the full record
early to anyone, only a sampler.

Leaks are always from carelessness or are deliberate. Either or.

~~~
ctide
I was impressed with this, which I saw (ironically) about 15 minutes after I
posted my earlier comment:

[http://ninjatune.net/article/2011/apr/19/amon-tobin-isam-
ava...](http://ninjatune.net/article/2011/apr/19/amon-tobin-isam-available-
digitally-now)

This is the best response I've seen from a label to a leak yet.

~~~
viraptor
Huh? I don't get it. I mean moving the digital release date is a cool
reaction. The description is a bit weird.

> "not everyone realises how much is invested in ambitious, groundbreaking
> tours"

How many people would see those? Hundreds? Thousands? Probably not one percent
compared to sales. Then again fans would still like to buy it. Whoever wanted
to hear the tracks at a gig, will wait for the gig before buying the album. I
don't see how tour timing is related here. Tour posters will be visible
anyways to remind people about the artist - it's not like they got cancelled.

> "collaborations with brilliant artists"

Again - what does it have to do with the release date?

> "lovingly designed packaging"

Not related to digital sales at all.

> "All that happens is a lot of great ideas and music come under threat."

To me it translates to: We were waiting so you can all experience the release
in a way we imagined it, but apparently all you wanted was the music, not our
tours, designs and marketing campaigns. And because of that the music came
under threat. The horror!

~~~
ctide
You're pulling things out of context. The full quote, which answer most of
your questions:

" A nameless person has decided that he, not us, is best placed to release the
new Amon Tobin album, and to do so for free, online via a watermarked
promotional copy. We know these things happen, and we know that not everyone
realises how much is invested in ambitious, groundbreaking tours,
collaborations with brilliant artists and lovingly designed packaging... It
still hurts."

The point they're making is that it costs them a lot of money to produce an
album, and someone deciding to leak it early sucks. An obvious point, but one
that's probably written more out of frustration than out of a desire to
communicate something people don't already know.

The translation that I took from it, is that they want to offer a full package
on a given date. That package includes the option to digitally purchase the
music, or buy a physical disc that includes things that they feel are
important to some people. By having it leaked a month+ early, most people are
just going to acquire it they only way they currently can -- by downloading it
for free. Offering a digital download a month early is obviously not the ideal
scenario for them (it means people who would have otherwise purchased a
physical copy will now just purchase a digital version) but it's better than
just losing all the sales that will otherwise result from people being
'finished' with the album before it's even released.

~~~
viraptor
I didn't try to handle it out of context. I don't understand what is the
problem with releasing digital version early. There are mostly 2 groups -
people who will go only for the media in the format convenient to them (either
CD, or a download) and those who will get more products because they're more
involved fans.

How does releasing one product early affect any of those groups? How does it
affect sales in a bad way? Maybe I am missing something obvious, but I cannot
imagine a bad result here. Fans will want to go to a gig anyways. Amon Tobin
is bound to fill venues - it's not like they're fighting for customers there.
If the worry is that people will buy only one format and not both, they could
always offer pre-orders.

------
Stormbringer
The problem isn't "the music _industry_ " the problem is "the music
_industries_ ".

Each country has its own little equivalents of the RIAA and MPAA.

And that is one of the 'secret sauces' underpinning the success of Apple's
iTunes store... because nobody else had the sheer bloodymindedness (or
resources) to sit down with and browbeat a hundred different "national music
unions" into submission (read as: accepting that digital music wasn't going to
go away if they stuck their head in the sand).

~~~
T-R
On this specific matter, as far as I can tell, (and I'd be happy to be
corrected if I'm wrong) Apple hasn't beaten them into submission at all.

If I want to buy music from another country, I need a separate account for
that country, and I need either a credit card or an imported iTunes gift card
from that country. Using multiple accounts on a single iPod, while now
possible, isn't exactly fun, since I have to switch accounts to even get
_updates_ for _free_ apps, much less make purchases. All this, of course,
wouldn't be an issue if the same music was available in all regions.

Don't get me wrong, I give Apple credit where it's due in getting the RIAA and
MPAA on board, but as far as I can tell, they haven't done anything to fight
region-based market segmentation - not that anyone else really has.

~~~
CountSessine
Region based market segmentation is a whole different problem. How about just
being able to sell digital music in Latmonroviastan in the first place? It was
a good two years from the opening of the iTunes music store in the US before
the iTunes music store in Canada opened - and that's Canada! We're practically
the 51st state! Last I checked, none of the really cool music services like
rdio or pandora were available outside US territory.

Update: I was wrong. Rdio made it here. Yay!

------
viraptor
Interesting... Now I wonder how easy would it be to create a service which on
request buys any geo-restricted mp3s from amazon (from servers / account in a
specific country) and resells them at cost + profit to any place in the world.
I know there were many attempts to make reselling music illegal, but I don't
think anything was ever proven. Would there be any big problems with a service
like this?

------
Florin_Andrei
Don't worry, self-publishing for musicians will gradually become the norm.

~~~
te_chris
Gradually? I'm an independent musician and though I may form a label (read:
trading company) it's all DIY. My friends are the same - some of whom have
been quite successful. I live in New Zealand, if you think the US industry
doesn't get it, the Australasian arm is worse. It's been like this for a while
too.

------
guard-of-terra
For some perspective: it's already available for streaming in Russia,
<http://music.yandex.ru/#!/album/216636> (but you can't see it from outside
four CIS countries)

It looks like that having a powerful music industry in your non-US country
makes your chances of getting music you want on time worse, not better. That
industry would buy out rights and sit on them.

------
SageRaven
Can't our brethren across the pond buy direct from amazon.com? About 7 years
ago, I bought an entire series on DVD direct from the amazon.co.uk because the
DVD rights in the US hadn't been negotiated (or something). Sure, it was the
wrong region, but I watched them on a PC anyway.

The entire global scheme for rights of various media needs to get sorted out.
I mean, in spite of _huge_ demand, it took many, many years before _Twin
Peaks_ got released on DVD. When I take the time to think about it, I still
get pissed that I can't buy/rent _China Beach_ on DVD.

The whole system is indeed shooting itself in the foot, and I can't fault
anyone who uses illegal downloads to fulfill a demand that the media industry
cannot (or will not) supply for.

------
Tinned_Tuna
They're running out of feet to shoot.

------
pmikesell
There are bunch of online music labels springing up. What really needs to
happen (at least from my limited point of view) is for some of those to wind
up in the Pandora (or other) feeds and then it's game over for the traditional
labels. Or so I hope.

~~~
ethank
Explain how the traditional label structure is killed by online labels showing
up in Pandora.

------
nl
If it's any consolation, the (e)book industry is even worse.

Try finding _A Game of Thrones_ as an ebook if you live outside the US. It's
_only_ been out for 15 years, so I guess I shouldn't expect too much.

I had imagined that maybe publishers would like to make money from people
attracted by the new HBO series. But I guess that's why I'm not in the book
publishing industry, because I obviously understand _nothing_ about how to
make money.

Edit: looks like I might be able to get a Kindle version. I don't have a
Kindle, but given the inability of anyone except Amazon to deliver I might
have to switch platforms.

~~~
shelfu
The kindle/amazon is not always a solution either. I live in Canada and there
is nothing I hate more than being given a suggestion (from amazon) about a
book for my kindle, only to find that it's "not available in your area" when I
go to purchase. I normally rage a bit, then find a torrent.

------
hdragomir
And music's not the only industry.

I'm from Romania, and we're literally begging Apple and Microsoft to take our
money. To no avail.

As for the buying the CD and torrenting the MP3`s in the meanwhile, I do the
same thing and the CD just ends up... sitting there.

But hey, I have the impression I supported my favorite artist.

------
inkaudio
There are a few people who profit from this silliness and lack of efficiency.
But these artist don't realize it hurts them more than their management, it
hurts the artist image and limits their exposure to new fans.

------
cube13
What's the difference between this, movies(both theatrical and DVD release),
video games, or books? All of those usually have different release dates for
different countries.

~~~
Devilboy
This can be sold as a digital download negating any geographical boundaries.

~~~
ethank
So can they. The answer is: its the music industry, which welcomes broad
generalizations and rash judgement.

