COMMENTARY--This radical proposal could save the music business and give consumers what they want.
There's no arguing that CD sales are down this year, but what no one can agree on is the underlying cause behind the slump. The RIAA points to Internet piracy, of course, citing studies that show CD purchases are lower among file sharers. (On the other hand, file-sharing companies deny this and point to studies that prove the opposite.) But a more measured analysis reveals a factor that's as simple as it is obvious: people are buying fewer CDs because they're buying more DVDs. At many large chains, DVDs can be purchased for US$10 each--a pretty amazing value considering that a DVD contains a movie, a Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, and all kinds of extra features. Meanwhile, a US$17.99 CD contains only about 50 minutes of stereo audio. DVDs are clearly a better deal.
RIAA head Hilary Rosen likely sees DVD as just another threat to the music industry's market share, like online music and other technologies that were not invented exclusively for the purpose of enriching record companies. But as I'll explain below, the DVD format holds the key to a thriving music market, which is ironic, considering that up to this point, DVD's effect on the CD has been negative.
Back in the day
When CDs were invented, there were no consumer-based CD-ROM drives, so manufacturers gave only cursory thought to protecting the content on the discs. As a result, pretty much every song committed to CD can now be found online if the person searching has lots of time and bandwidth. The record companies have been trying to reverse this trend for a few years without success--their only victories have been symbolic ones. And in some cases, their wins have even been detrimental to their cause, such as when they shut down companies that were willing to cooperate to some extent with copyright holders, sending users to networks that were harder to police.
I have a radical idea that could help the music industry take a much-needed leap into the future--if it has the courage. The record labels should cease trying to safeguard unprotected CDs and desist the fight against MP3 trading. The future of music retail lies in the home theater, and that's where the record companies need to double down. This became obvious to me as I listened to/watched the Super Furry Animals' Rings Around the World DVD. The disc features the same videos shown on the backdrop of the band's last tour, along with every track on the album in Dolby 5.1 surround sound. In addition, Rings Around the World contains 16 bonus remixes, as well as songs not on the current album. The price for this bevy of bodacious content? According to the DVD price-comparison service on CNET's own mySimon, it costs US$21.28 new with shipping and handling. In contrast, the same songs on a CD runs from US$12 to US$17.
Music is already an increasingly visual medium, as is evidenced by the success of MTV's pay-per-view concerts and the pop stardom of teen siren Christina Aguilera. It makes sense for labels to continue this trend, offering DVDs with surround sound, live footage, videos, or even still images to display on televisions while home-theater systems belt out pristine, 24-bit, 96KHz digital audio.
Unlike CDs, the vast majority of DVDs already feature content protection (CSS or Macrovision) that cannot be disabled without the ripper committing a felony. But even if I were able to rip my Super Furry Animals DVD without getting arrested, where would I play it? You can't listen to 5.1 audio on a pair of headphones, and only Windows Media Player with a rare filter installed can play ripped 5.1 audio on a computer. Even if I shared the ripped audio files on a P2P network, almost no one would be able to download and play them successfully.
Sound advice
The record labels should continue to sell CDs the way that they sell other outdated formats, such as the cassette tape. But they should also lower their resistance to the sharing of MP3s and fight only illegitimate, for-profit piracy rings. The labels should also allow file-sharing networks to pay a nominal fee to copyright holders for the privilege of running P2P networks. Then, the companies should concentrate their efforts on DVD. No matter how good my Super Furry Animals MP3s are, I would still pay for a DVD that offers more, higher-quality content for my buck.
Hilary, if you are listening, please tell the labels to forget about protecting stereo CDs and MP3s and to start converting back catalogs and all new releases into digitally remastered DVDs. Tell them to film live concerts and record them in Dolby 5.1, Pro Logic II, DTS, or any other surround-sound format, then release them on DVD. Everyone wins: the artists, who would attract more fans and get a cool, new avenue of expression; the fans, who would get more and better content; and the labels, which would gain a powerful new revenue stream while saving all the money that they currently spend trying to stop people from listening to their music online.
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Nice idea, except for one small problem... DVDs don't play to well in CD players. "Error Disc Unreadible" sound familiar? Also 5.1 mixes require an entirely different mixdown done on specialised equipment and the sound is compromised when converted back to stereo systems and headphones as most music is not played in 5.1 theatres but in cars on stereos HiFi and portable players. Also, live music recordings usually sound lame compared to fully perfected studio ones so the product is not necessarily on par. And finally, Video is an expensive exclusive file format to produce on and doesn't allow for new acts to compete in the market with established acts that might have a video and video editing budget. Besides which the premise of a DVD being better value than a CD doesn't take into account that most movies only get watched once or twice but albums are often played hundreds of times over a lifetime. They can become the soundtrack to our own lives, have deep importance for ourselves pesonally, and are not just existing in the fantasy world of hollywood producers being flicked at us through iradiating, alpha enducing, mind controlling, brain melting, A.D.D. causing idiot box televisions.
A good reason for consumers to turn back to CDs over file sharing might be the promotion of the reality that MP3s are a secound rate, poor quality (sometime 1:20 compression) product that causes listening fatique, induces irratability and anxiety in the listener and basically do a disservice to the beauty of a recorded media by reproducing it in a substandard format. That's the reality.