So the whole industry is all abuzz about Google Music debuting. And for those that’re using Google Music, they’re not all that thrilled. It’s slow, clunky, and not exactly the Music 2.0/Next Phase/New Wave solution everybody was trumpeting from the rooftops. And so it goes. Once the music industry gives up on one problem, they just move onto another while forgetting to continue solving the previous one. Cloud music seems obvious as a necessary tool for the future — it’s where we’re buying our music, why shouldn’t it be where we listen? Oh wait, I already do. Thank you, Rdio!
That’s why I’m saying “fuck the cloud.” Let’s fix the other, more pressing problems our industry faces. The ones that we’ve never been able to actually solve. In particular this whole “music should be free” concept is still up for debate.
Said it before, and I’ll say it again. Free music is fine — if the author/composer wants it to be. But if I don’t want my stuff given away, it shouldn’t be. Creating music is a process and that process can require money to sustain it. If Ford makes a million cars a year, they shouldn’t be required to give away a bunch of ’em just because someone knows how to steal ’em. For the record, I don’t snack on grapes at the grocery store, and I never pocket extra sugar packets at Starbucks.
Here’s the only solution I’ve seen that makes even a little bit of sense:Â The ISP tax.
Now whoa, before you get all up in my grill about taxes and surcharges and so on, let’s just look at a few basic facts:
- In the U.S. right now, there are approximately 95.2 billion homes with (at least) basic cable service. (http://www.ncta.com/Stats/TopMSOs.aspx)
- Last year, the music industry made roughly $6.85 billion. (Courtesy RIAA)
- In order to sell digital music through virtually any (reputable) online retailer, you’re required to have an ISRC code which identifies each individual track.
Work with me here:  If we were to charge every cable subscriber $1 per year and then provide them with unlimited music for personal use, and then track which files were downloaded courtesy of their ISRC codes, we’d know how many Captain and Teneille tracks were downloaded. But we’d also know how many Beatles tracks, Arcade Fire tracks, and tracks by YOUR band were downloaded. At the end of the year, total it up. Figure out what percentage of overall downloads are attributed to each artist. We’ve got computers nowadays, so this type of computation shouldn’t be all that difficult.
Remember when we charged every cable subscriber $1? There’s roughly $95 billion out there in collected taxes. If your tracks represent 1% of all music downloaded, then you get 1% of $95 billion. And if your music represents .00005%, you get that percentage. And if you don’t bother to register your music with ISRC codes, then you get nuthin’. I’m thinking that a $95 billion payout opportunity is enough to motivate everyone from Bono down to the aspiring songwriter who just brewed my latte.
Unfortunately, there’s a bunch of assholes out there that’re gonna try to game the system. They’ll hire a bunch of (unpaid) interns to download your tracks and inflate the numbers to get a higher percentage of downloads and thus more money. But that’s for another discussion on ethics…
The music industry (as opposed to musicians, ironically) has been afraid of technology from day one. Taking this high tech step, and partnering with (of all people!) the U.S. Government and perhaps even the IRS, would scare ’em to death.
But then, that’s pretty much what’s happening now, isn’t it?
