Fiction... or Future Fact?

I'm not big into conspiracy theories. I think humans often find patterns in the silliest things and build these things into Something Very Serious Indeed. Most of these are overly complex and crazy to be too real.

I do believe in motives and plots. I try to observe how people react to events. I know that people don't like change and most like control. I like the idea of control. I'm quite sure that part of the reason I write fiction is to have some control over something in life.

So maybe this is a theory and maybe it's just me wondering aloud. Maybe not.

At the end of 2011, the major music labels announced that they would be getting out of the CD business during 2012. From a business perspective, I can see the sense in this. No need to generate physical media (that's a financial risk, lower the overhead), just some servers and a bandwidth pipe for downloads. No need to wait until an artist has 10 or 12 solid songs ready; they can pop a song or two out whenever they are ready. Less 'unfinished' songs made to make an album release date. All good for the company, the artist, and the consumer.

Isn't it?

If there are no stores that the physical CD is in, then there's less choice. How many legal download sources are there for the 'big labels'? Half a dozen perhaps? No more fighting to get an album into Walmart or cutting an exclusive deal with Target, it's download it here or nowhere potentially.

Control.

No need to clearance the CD out because it's not taking up any physical space. No need to buy a CD, get bored with it, take it to a second hand shop, and let someone else try it for a discount price. It's on a server to legally download and nowhere else. There's no incentive to have a 'sale' or 'discount' price. If you didn't download it from this site or that site then you must have it illegally.

But that's okay. You don't care for much mainstream music anyway. Most of the bands you are interested in belong to smaller labels, ones that may still make CDs. For awhile anyway. Now that the larger labels aren't making them, demand for CD media has gone way down, making it more expensive. Now you can't buy as many songs and smaller bands that aren't on labels can't afford to make CDs anymore. More and more they put their music online to download.

Only the large labels don't want them alongside their 'good' music. They have to go to smaller sites with higher overhead and costs. Some bands would be willing to give their music away, they used to have links to download it legally from Megaupload and the like but those sites are gone now. The only real way to make money in the music industry is to work to get on a major label.

Because they have the control. Just like old times...