Problems with the Man

Adam Curry mentioned me again in his Daily Source Code program, and included some excerpts of my audioblog entry on RSS and the iPod platform. He included the part where I was sort of frothing at the mouth about how much I hope the RIAA machinations in getting the internet broadcasting pay-per-stream licensing pushed through bites them in the ass. My dream is that having shot their wad on that front, then a different mode of interaction comes along that is different and in most ways superior to the streaming they tried to squash, and they are helpless and forced to give in because they put all their eggs in the wrong basket. That’s the world I want. To clarify, I’m not against record labels in general, I’m against the heavy-handed RIAA tactics, suing of the fans who are their customers, trying end runs to get the government to protect their future-proof their business models from the advance of technology so they can sit on their piles of money without being bothered to change with the times, etc. He did correctly tag me, though, as “having problems with the Man in general.” I’ll admit to that.

The really interesting part is at the end when he suggest that Prince might be a good candidate for getting into this world. He is a massive generator of the “bundles of passion”, being both prolific and inspiring fiercely loyal fans. Adam suggests that he’s very smart and very wired, and points out that he is one of the innovators in the world of enabling downloads for music. That’s the other thing about all this, is that when we have the “killer app” then that will help the brush fire catch. All it takes is one feed that is the candy everyone wants, and this will really get rolling.