Bands Upset That People Aren't Forced Into Buying Their Bad Songs Too. Now that Apple's iTunes has been getting lots of publicity from some who think it's the "right way" to offer music downloads (something I don't really agree with, but that's an unnecessary tangent), some musical acts are complaining that they don't want their songs sold individually. They're demanding that if their tunes go up on something like iTunes, they can only be sold if people buy the entire album. Of course, what they're really saying is that they know they can't come up with enough good songs that people would want to buy them all. I would have a lot more support for a band that gave their fans enough credit to let them buy songs on an individual basis - and believe that their music is good enough to entice people to download all their songs. In the meantime, what's probably happening is that any of the bands who require "full album only" are going to make less money than they would have otherwise. The folks who have no interest in their full-length album, are likely to just turn to the free file sharing systems to get the one or two songs they like (or simply not buy at all), keeping the money away from the musicians entirely. [Techdirt]

If they write good songs, people would buy the entire album. Apple says something like 50% of the downloads have been whole albums anyway. It usually turns out my favorite song is not one of those that get a lot of airplay. Once these groups reaize that being able to continually release singles, say 1 a month, instead of releasing an album every year or so, may get them more money that putting together an entire album.  10:40:42 AM    

DVD-Piracy Paranoia Proves Counterproductive. Someone over at the Washington Post has realized that by letting people make copies of DVDs, the movie studios might actually increase the value of DVDs, and so he has written a column explaining how their continuing efforts to shut down any software that allows for DVD copying is counterproductive. He talks about some legitimate reasons for copying DVDs, and how such software makes his own DVDs more valuable to him (by copying the movies to his hard drive, he doesn't need to carry around an external DVD player and DVDs when he travels). He also points out that it is simply impossible to stop a software product from existing after it's been created and released online. Therefore, it's in their best interest to realize what the benefits are from copying DVDs, and learn to embrace them, rather than waste lots of money on a pointless campaign. [Techdirt]

Just as most stores recognize that there will be theft and plan for it, Media copies just need to realize that there will be some copying but the positive aspects of being able to do what I want with what I buy will outweigh the negative.  8:51:13 AM    

More Companies Pay Heed To Their 'Word Of Mouse' Reputation. It appears that companies are finally realizing that their online reputation matters, and can have a big impact on their business. We spoke about this recently when we had an article about how movie studios are embracing online fan communities, knowing that how they perceive a movie can play a big part in its success or failure. However, this goes well beyond things like movies. How a company is perceived online makes a big difference and too many companies (and, specifically, their PR people) simply don't realize this. It's one of the things that we focus on for our Techdirt Corporate Intelligence clients - making sure they realize just what the impact of certain decisions will be within the online community, and how to better position themselves to gain the support of, rather than the animosity of, such a force. [Techdirt]

Some companies will hate the fact that their own customers can have such power. They will be the one that do not succeed. Marketing online will be very different. SOme get it. Look at Apple. They mistakenly put up the specs for their new machines on their web site for a short time and create a feeding frenzy. Or was it a mistake? From a marketing aspect it does not matter. Everyone read and wrote about it. Just brilliant.  8:38:26 AM