Stupid RIAA, I’ve got Your Problem Right Here

The RIAA has started up it’s latest round of lawsuits this time going after people who rip music that they legally purchased to their iPod. It’s obvious that the RIAA and it’s members aren’t doing to hot. The best selling album of 2007 was a Christmas album by Josh Groban with 3.6 million copies sold. A Christmas album! Gone are the days when pop princesses and boy bands had 3 or 4 diamond records(10 million+ sold) a year. Some say it’s illegal downloading and websites like iTunes are the cause and they are partially correct, but they were are created because of one reason: the ridiculous cost of CDs.

I realized this the other day when I was shopping. We’ve all noticed that the older the movie release, the cheaper it is. You can go to Target and get major-studio movies on DVD release in the past 3 years for as little as $5. But when was the last time you saw a CD on sale for $5? You don’t. Britney Spears’ first CD …Baby One More Time released in early 1999 still costs $12.99! I got the collector’s edition complete with special metal case of The Departed, last year’s Oscar winner of best picture for $7.99! Granted, movies can be very profitable before being released on DVD and the DVD sales are just icing on the cake, but what about the movies that are released direct-to-DVD? They are just as cheap as the theater-released movies and they must be profitable because they keep doing it. And I’m pretty damn sure that they made their money back and more on …Baby One More Time.

Another advantage movies have over CDs, is when you buy a movie, it’s because you like the movie, when you buy a CD, if your lucky you like half the songs on it. That’s why iTunes is so damn popular, you only have to buy the songs you like. When you can do that, why the hell would you buy the CD?

But why are CDs so expensive to began with? Easy, the music industry is a bloated monster weighted down by clinging to an outdated business model. It’s getting to the point where a band almost doesn’t need a record label. Technology has made it easy for bands to get their music out there on their own, but the record labels still insist on things like they did when they solely controlled the spread of music 20+ years ago.

Stupid RIAA.

Forget Touring, the Money is in Ads, Bitch!

Anybody remember that cute little song by the weird-looking lead singer of Nickleback and another guy with a striped goatee call “Hero” for the Spiderman soundtrack a few year back? Well that other guy has a band of his own, Saliva. Saliva has done ok for themselves with a couple of gold albums, but nowhere near buddy band Nickleback.

So what is Saliva to do to have the cash to throw around when they go for a night around town with their buds who have a much bigger record contract? The answer is simple, write songs that marketing minions will droll over. And that’s what they did.

You’ve probably heard the song “Ladies and Gentlemen” by Saliva. It was the WrestleMania 23 theme song, featured in the newest PlayStation 3 ad campaign, promos for the new American Gladiators, ESPN Radio, NFL Network, and just about every sports arena in the past year.

If you listen to the song by itself, it’s quite forgettable and somewhat stupid sounding. It can be broken down into two parts:

Rock on, Josey

• Lead singer Josey Scott (yes, that’s his real name) sounding like a one of those guys they had outside freakshows talking them up
• Heavy guitar riffs overlaid with Josey Scott yelling “Let me hear it Ladies and Gentlemen.”

Oh, and it goes like that for over 3 minutes, perfect for a 30 second ad, not so much for the radio.

It makes me want to go and make an album made up of songs designed solely for ads. I’ll call it “Songs for Commericals.”