James Joyner has responded to my post below about Don Henley's WaPo op-ed, and I wanted to clarify a couple of points. James says:

Much like the ability to get lots of information for free on the Internet has made people reluctant to pay for it [snip] we now have the idea that it’s Don Henley’s fault that he can’t figure out how to make a living selling one album and having everyone else share electronic copies of it.

I don't have any beef with Henley or any other artist wanting to recoup royalties that they've lost through file sharing. That's an entirely legitimate complaint.

(But incidentally, Don Henley doesn't need to "make a living" selling albums. He can play 150 sold-out Eagles shows a year where the cheapest nosebleed seat goes for fifty bucks. That doesn't excuse somebody ripping him off, but c'mon, the guy isn't missing any meals. His last album didn't tank because of file-sharing, either--it tanked because it was boring, pretentious crap. None of the above changes the fact that he's still getting ripped off when somebody shares "Hotel California" on an MP3, and again, I don't have any problem with him trying to do something about it--although I think it's a futile effort; more on that in a minute.)

What I do have a problem with is Henley going to the federal government and saying, in effect, "I don't like it that radio stations don't play my boring, pretentious crap any more--so make some laws that force them to play it!" I've got a serious problem with that. The Feds have got better things to worry about, and I think the 'threat' of media consolidation is a joke in a world with hundreds of channels and billions of web sites. Look, I think ClearChannel sucks, too, but that's a private business operating under the First Ammendment, and they can play whatever junk they choose to play just as long as I'm free to not listen to it.

What Henley is trying to avoid is the market at work--he wants daddy Government to make things right for him instead. The market is telling the music business that their products are, by and large, overpriced and under-quality. Rightly or wrongly, $18 is no longer what the market will bear for a plastic disc filled with audio. We might wish that P2P would magically go away, but the reality is that it's here to stay, and is only going to get more secure and anonymous as time goes on--because that's what the music market wants. Again, that may not be right, or legal, but it's still a fact, and one that it's not technologically feasible to change.

Is there anything the government should or ought to do about this? Well, sure. If they want to encourage more varieties of music being widely available, the FCC can change the licensing fee rules that shut down the vast majority of online radio stations a while back. That right there would open up a new revenue stream for performers and unleash a million homebrew radio stations, some of which might even play Don Henley's boring, pretentious crap.

The RIAA doesn't want that to happen, because they like the way things are now: they order up color-by-numbers songs from music producers, tell the radio stations what to play, ship out a bunch of lousy CDs--and then whine when the CDs don't sell. As far as I'm concerned, the record companies can go cry to the Buggy Whip Manufacturer's Association. The time of their time has come and gone.

The artists are obviously another matter, but they've got options. I go to 15-20 major-act concerts a year, and I'm here to tell ya, tickets aren't getting any cheaper. As for the upcoming "minor" bands, allow me to share an anecdote:

I caught Hayseed Dixie at a show a couple of years ago (great, fun band, check 'em out). During a set break, the lead singer held up their first CD and asked, "Now, how many of y'all just downloaded this thing off the internet?" Big laugh from the crowd. Barley just nodded and went on: "Well, I'll let y'all in on a secret. We don't make squat when one of these things does sell in a store, but y'all can help us out by buyin' one here at the show, or gettin' yourself a t-shirt, and the stand is right over yonder."

Hayseed sold a lot of CDs that night, in no small part because they put on a great live show. Most bands that do this aren't going to make Don Henley-in-the-70's money, but a lot of the good ones are going to be able to make a living. The great ones are going to be able to make a very, very good living. You don't need the radio to make it--just ask the performers on the "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack, all of whom have been playing to packed houses for years now with zero airplay.