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Let’s see how many comments this controversial post generates. So exciting. 
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After burning out on he-said-she-said politics last year, I started blogging about digital technology, digital music technology, to be exact. I’m not a music or tech blogger, but it was an oddly satisfying distraction. A reporter quoted from one of my tech posts, and I picked up a few readers genuinely interested in the new stuff.
But I returned to political blogging because…hmmm.
Anyway, I blogged about the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) case against a man who illegally shared music files, Atlantic Recording Corporation v. Pamela and Jeffrey Howell. The RIAA is a trade organization that represents major record labels. For those who care about the outcome of the case, here’s an update:
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Update: A few months ago, I mentioned a song called “Beautiful Life” by Annie Barker. It’s beautiful. I bought it on iTunes even before it finished playing on a music podcast I listen to. Want to hear it? Listen to the full track on my MySpace page music player. I asked her to add it to her music player so I could upload it to mine and share it with you. I hope other artists listen and respond to their fans! 
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In an ideal world, bands could focus solely on the craft of creating, composing, and recording music while earning a decent living, almost passively, through the sale of that recorded music. Making a lot of money performing that same music would be—pardon the tired cliché—icing on the cake.
But unless you’re signed to a label with star-making machinery churning in the background for you, that ideal world is just that. Today, artists have to do a lot more than sell recorded music to support themselves.
By now we know all about the ground-shifting little MP3 file. Digital downloading, legal or otherwise, has cut deeply into the sale of physical media like CDs. Even if users choose to pay for digital music, they have the option of buying only one or two songs from an album. An entire album: $12. Two songs: $2. Somebody’s earning less money, wouldn’t you say?
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Back on the east coast. It’s raining. 
Looking for more evidence of digital music downloading’s impact on CD sales? Remember 12-CDs-for-a-penny music clubs? At least one is closing down. BMG Music Service announced that it would close shop by 2010. CDs sales are down, and DVDs aren’t selling well, either. From the article:
One of the problems music continuity clubs face is the growing popularity of MP3 players, which give consumers access to music whenever they want it.
“Consumers want control of the process instead of the other way around, like it used to be,” Benjamin says. As a result, “continuity is in the process of reinvention” as clubs try to figure out how to give members more control. She points to HCI’s Silkies hosiery club, which now allows members to decide how often they want shipments as an example.
The growth of digital music is behind Bertelsmann’s decision to shut down the BMG Music Service club, company representatives said during its annual analyst meeting in March. The company’s US CD business fell in line with market declines in physical music sales, which dropped off by more than 20% in 2007, according to Bertelsmann. The US DVD club also didn’t perform well, and Bertelsmann is considering shutting it down, too. Book clubs, however, are relatively stable.
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3:19 p.m. PT: Whenever I feel like blogging (like today), I have a ton of other stuff to do (like today). When I have free time to blog, I don’t feel like blogging. For instance, I feel like blogging some more, but I have to finish a book review (due tomorrow), do some heavy lifting on my book proposal, and I just finished a telephone interview with Essence magazine. I don’t think I can mention what the story’s about yet, and I’m not certain my quotes will make the cut. I’ll let you know!
Anyway, let’s talk about bands and fans.
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