IT and Music

I am sure readers will agree that we all grudgingly allow the Music companies to overcharge us. Most often we like only one or two songs in a CD but pay for all the songs which are on the CD. None of us complains because no one else is complaining.

The problem is due to a mismatch between what we want to buy and what the music industry offers. We like songs and want to buy songs but the Music companies only sell CDs. They do not sell ‘songs’, the smallest, complete and ‘stand-alone’ unit of the music CD. There is a technology issue involved here.

The music companies have not changed their way of thinking in step with the advancements in technology. They live with the new technology thinking that they still have the constraints of the old technology. In the old technology the cost of production of a single record was high and process elaborate. It was, therefore, nearly impossible to ‘tailor-make’ records to suit the tastes of the individual customers in a cost effective manner. However, the current technology (IT) can deliver systems where customer selects songs and then orders a CD and music company produces these ‘tailor-made’ CDs in a cost effective manner for the cost remains more or less independent of the lot size.

Toady automobile manufacturers offer customized cars to us and considering complexities of their systems, making customized CDs is a ‘kids play’. In fact most kids today believe in cutting their own CDs after taking songs from a number of different CDs. They burn the CD directly or after converting them into MP3 format. Is it not strange that the music companies do not think that this market is large enough for them to enter in? Unfortunately, the old fashioned law abiding people will have to wait, till music companies take cognizance of their needs before they can enjoy what the kids round the block are having fun with.

I hope someone/some group takes on the music companies for thrusting goods/songs on us and charging us for them. Imagine if you went out to have food at a hotel and they charged you for the dishes you did not order/eat but were served to you because they were cooked in the same kitchen. I am sure all of us will cry foul. I wonder if this is the reason why the hotel industry has a ‘buffet’ system. I am talking about introduction of ‘buffet’ system in the music industry. I do hope and pray that soon we are allowed to buy only the ‘songs’ we like and are not forced to buy CDs offered by the industry.

(Written in 2001)