What you’re mistaking for halcyon goodness in that period is actually the decadent ability to set cash on fire if they felt like it.

People have money, and we just can’t keep them from throwing it at us,” quipped NAMM president Jack Wainger of American Music Stores, Detroit, in 1967, succinctly capturing the tenor of the music industry in the 1960s.

Besides, you can’t compare the two eras; file sharing as we know it was not possible. To share a one hour album with 20 of your friends would take nearly a day. We can look at their reaction to cassettes. In the late 1970s the record companies did everything they could to curb home taping until congress gave the labels a portion of every blank tape sale.

So, not surprisingly, you’re ignoring the facts.

When was this magical golden age?

I can go on about rationale, but I don’t think that I REALLY need to explain to you that the guys with Limewire accounts and 1 TB external hard drives are doing it because of the RIAA’s unfair legal practices. They’re doing it because they don’t want to pay for music or movies. A couple of leaders who (I assume) are sincere in their beliefs of the “new model” do not make up for the fact that the vast majority of people just want free stuff.

I kinda supported these ideals, until I heard someone state (and be supported) that he wouldn’t pay for music until he was able to get an album, in lossless audio, for $.50. At that point, I realized that, however the market shifts, nothing’s going to be good enough.

I bought a mediocre muffin and a coffee for $4 this morning. I think Dunkin Donuts ripped me off, but that doesn’t give me the right to take their donuts. If you wanna boycott the RIAA (which I’m not opposed to), then you do without. Trying to have it both ways is hypocrisy.

@How do I say this … THROWDINI!: I actually stopped reading BoingBoing because I couldn’t take any more of Cory Doctorow’s willful ignorance of the realities of piracy (calling it “file sharing” is nothing but marketing)

The notion that people who think like the guys at Boing Bong a) have a substantial amount of capital, and b) a public profile, and c) used traditional “old media” marketing methods before going the “free” route, is ludicrous. Visit a hundred music bloggers who do what they do for free, and they would certainly beg to differ. They do what they do because they love music and want to break new bands – they don’t pay much attention to the pop junk or the industry’s old repertoire. Last but not least, I don’t know what Free Ride you’re talking about – there is no such thing in the entertainment business, online or offline.

In short: get fucked.”

Whew…King of Pants, really, why all the venom? Are you actually Ryan Adams in disguise (see http://www.ryanadamssucks.com to get the joke).

First of all, I didn’t justify illegal downloading in any way, mostly because it’s a lost cause…the industry blew its chances to make something of the digital revolution back when they kneecapped Napster in ’99 (which, BTW, for those of you keeping score, was also the year that the music biz sold the most CDs in history). I have ALWAYS supported the artists that make the music, and the label’s agonizingly slow response to downloading is just another way that the companies that sell us the music have failed those who actually create the music….

As for your allegations that I’m just another bloviating asshole that talks shit about the RIAA while downloading the new Fleet Foxes CD illegally (well, the asshole part is probably true), I’ll put my music budget on the line against anybody. I’ve spent over $2k annually on new and used CDs for better than 10 years now, as well as traded promos that I get as a writer for more new music. Whenever possible, I buy music directly from the artist, so blow me chuckles. I’ve paid my dues and I don’t feel that I owe the music industry a dime in sympathy.

Unlike most music-loving blog types, I’ve been in the inner sanctums of the major labels. I’ve had execs bitch and moan to my face about receiving bonuses of “only $80,000″ and I’ve seen tens of thousands of artist’s royalty dollars spent on booze and blow by label publicity departments. I’ve seen promo albums sold out the back door by underpaid mailroom workers (and sometimes publicists) and I’ve witnessed the corruption and ignorance of the industry firsthand.

Until the music biz figures out where it’s going, I’ll bitch about their lack of vision; and until they begin paying artists the money they’ve earned, I’ll bloviate about RIAA lawsuits and excessive exec pay. If that makes me a self-important shithead, so be it. I’ve been editorializing about the music industry for over 35 years, and don’t really need your approval to justify the words I’ve spent on tilting at windmills.

Love the artist/hate the industry.

We have to move on, and figure out “what comes next?”. You posit that the the music industry doesn’t need to change their since the demand for consumption (not purchase) of their products is higher than ever… but this is EXACTLY why their model needs to change. Even with an abundance of demand, they’re bleeding money. Their current model clearly is not working.

Guess I’ll just go to my room and play with my Shogun Warriors now.

Now it’s time to move on, and think of the future.

I just want to point out that it took a LOT of effort to not make a political analogy here.