From the online forums….
“One key fact is that the copyright holder still *does* have the right to decide to expose and sell their product efficiently, inefficiently, or not at all. You, on the other hand, have NO rights to that product or that decision. You have NO right to decide how the product should be exposed or distributed. “
Not quite that simple. I absolutely agree, though, that any musical artist has every right to NOT distribute their music on CD. Go for it, Ashlee! No problem there.
But… the general public, the consumer, made the choices (from among competing technologies) that established vinyl, then cassette, then CD as the format of choice for musical recordings.
The public also has a right to expect that providers of content compete fairly in the market place. If Ashlee wants to issue her recordings on vinyl, she can. That way nobody will steal her work. Some other artists might conclude that they could compete successfully against Ashlee by issuing their work on more popular mediums, but who am I to second guess them! So if you want Ashlee’s work, buy her vinyl album. That’s your choice and you’re free to make it.
But she should not have the right to collude with other recording artists to force Pioneer and Toshiba and Sony to hijack the CD format and impose changes on it that the public didn’t ask for and does not want.
She and the other artists are absolutely, totally, completely free to go to Toshiba and Sony and Pioneer and offer to pay them to develop a new uncopyable technology that will only be used to distribute her music on.
The public, I’m sure, will adopt it in droves, especially once they understand that they can’t use it to make their own recordings or assemble their own music collections, or play it on the portable players they already own.
Go for it Ashlee! Please!
(Incidentally, I don’t mean to pick on Ashlee. I really don’t know anything about her other than the Saturday Night Live gaffe.)
Bottom line. I have no problem with artists switching to a new medium that prevents copying. As long as other artists have the right to continue using copyable mediums like the CD or Radio or television with a stereo signal if they want to.
Now you’re a young artist. You want to become famous and have people hear your music and sell a few CD’s and tickets to your shows. You gonna join the proprietary, protected gang, or offer your stuff to the public on their medium of choice?