Guess what!?!?!

The music industry is trying to try to squeeze more money out of you, the American public, by telling the government that because they are now willing to let people transfer the music they legally purchased between their various music-listening devices, they deserve extra money!

…or so says music conspiracy theorist William Patry of Techdirt.com.

Patry says that there's obvious value in being able to transfer music around, otherwise why would people want that ability.
It all goes back to the psychological explanation for why the music biz keeps getting into trouble: “They assume that all of the value needs to be captured by them, and not anyone else. In economics, this is effectively an industry telling the government that it needs to be compensated for all of the positive externalities it created -- even if it's better off at an absolute level. 


“Basically, the industry is so overvaluing its own content, that it assumes that any additional value that people get out of music, even if it's through no effort of the recording industry itself, should be entirely converted to more revenue for the industry.

“As an analogy, it's like your automobile maker demanding an ongoing cut of your salary, since without the automobile, you wouldn't be able to drive to work. 

“Unfortunately, though, unless you're a copyright wonk, you might not even notice that the recording industry is trying to do this. Instead, it presents its case in a logical fashion, focusing on how much ‘value’ it's suddenly creating by ‘allowing’ people to transfer the music they already legally purchased to the device of their choosing.”
Hmmmmm…the man does have a point.

The record industry should probably sue and crush him, huh?

Techdirt.com: Recording Industry Testing Out New Theory: It Deserves More Money Because It Lets You Transfer Music