bauhaus - I give you five dollah for 'em all
I'd even be willing to pay for all of the
shipping on them ADDITIONALLY so you won't
have to pay out of my CASH lump sum payment
for them.
Kim has some interesting points, but I too
feel that its not really going far enough.
There are more principles here (at least for
me) than the price tag and who they sue
based on bitrates. It's about a company that
got so big that it forgot what its customers
want. My dad runs a tree-care business, and
its very simple. If his employees do a good
job, he generally gains a repeat customer,
who may in turn recommend him along to
neighbors, friends, and family. If his
company does a bad job, he will lose a
prospective customer, and more likely than
not, a lot of other potential customers who
are told by the disgruntled customer that
the company does bad work. Fortunately for
my dad, they do good work so generally keep
customers, and the customers are generally
happy.
The Recording Industry Association of
America has a different theory, and it is
this:
1. We know what is best for the consumer,
because it reflects the highest income for
us.
2. We also know that what worked last year
WILL work this year, because it worked last
year.
3. Change is something that does not come,
we are in the era of "f*ck the customers"
and we're d*mn well going to stay in it.
I'm sure there are more those are the main
ones that come to mind. I'll be completely
honest and say that I am willing to buy
music from any of the major five record
labels, without a doubt. Here is my clause
before I will ever do that though:
Abolishment of the RIAA.
The idea is that we have competition
amoingst labels, which does not seem to
really be happening much since they all seem
to speak as one by way of the RIAA. This may
be alright to some, but to me, it feels WAY
too much like a trust. (A trust was
something that was thought up in the 1860s
and 70s, as a way for the Robber Barons to
control companies. Often times, five or six
men would own about 30 competing companies,
and as they were not allowed to have a
monopoly, they did not merge the companies.
INSTEAD, they took all of the stock from
each of the companies, and gave them all to
a board of trustees, who then voted on the
operation of the collection companies. SO,
basically, it was 30 companies with 8-10
board members at the head of them, which was
legal for a few years but then the govt
decided that was illegal so we established
anti-trust laws.)
My dads tree care business is one of maybe 6
MAJOR tree care companies in the main city
of its operation, and it (obviously) has to
compete with the other companies in both
PRICE AND QUALITY. Consumers want the BEST
for the LOWEST price, and it isn't the
consumers mind to change their mind, its the
companies job to show the consumer that they
ARE a good deal.... an important part of
this is to bear in mind that when a customer
says NO, that means that its time to rethink
the plan, not say YES and start arguing with
the customer as to whether he is willing to
pay for it. Thats what the phone solicitors
we cuss out and hang up on every night do,
and as a result we hate them pretty
thoroughly and have actually passed
legislation to ERADICATE them. When a BMG
representative comes to my door with a CD
and we haggle over a price, thats when I'm
going to buy their CD. When they cater to MY
needs. Its not my job to respect them, its
their job to earn my respect.
Jon Newton
LXI
independentm...
INeedAlover
