I was just listening to a podcast entitled The Future of Music hosted by David Slusher from IT Conversations. He was interviewing the authors of the book of the same name, Gerd Leonhard and David Kusek.

David indicated that he has made his own music buying a political statement since the RIAA started suing it's customers. I'm not certain who else reading this is actively boycotting RIAA labeled music, but I'm game.

What is happening in the music industry is that a very traditional business with very traditional leaders refuse to adapt. They would rather fight their customers than work with new technologies, readily available for them to use and benefit from.

I've tried the new Napster along with several other paid for services and none of them measure up. Either I can't find music I want or they charge fees on top of the subscription price for me to burn a song onto a CD or load it onto my iPod. The music industry could lead here, providing a collaborative network of music, making ALL of their recordings - past and present - available. They could even create a better quality format that is compatible with our current devices.

There are many ideas available and many customers are giving guidance. To date, though, they just haven't chosen to listen. If they want to continue to fight us, we can certainly show them a good defense.

Link to Boycott RIAA