Record companies and the RIAA are complaining that CD sales are sliping and MP3 trading is to blame. So the knee-jerk reaction is to regulate and legislate with copy-protection schemes and lawsuits, which just infuriate their customers.

“But what can they do” you ask? Well, why not give the customer more of an incentive to buy.

Two discs in particular got this right. Tweekend by The Crystal Method included a password to access a special section of their web site jsut for people who bought the CD, with photos and special mixes. And then there’s Queens Of The Stone Age‘s new one, Songs For The Deaf. Along with the CD comes a half-hour long DVD with some footage of the band making the album and playing out on tour.

It’s little things like that (and major things like the record companies cutting profit margins and bringing the prices back down to around $10 a disc) that will be able to help the industry. Of course, if the big wigs just want to keep playing ruthless tyrant then the masses will just find other ways to enjoy their music, sans hassle.

(As an aside, I’ll be checking QOTSA off my “must see before I die” list tomorrow night when I catch them in action over at the Roseland Ballroom. It shall kick much ass and rock very hard. ^_^)

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 5th, 2002 at 12:54 am and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.