Ah the stupidity of the record companies was on full display once again this week when the New York Times reported that Sony issued a very limited edition -- as in a 100 copies limited -- of early Bob Dylan songs strictly to maintain ownership of the recordings under new European copyright laws set to take effect next year.
They went so far as to call it the Copyright Extension Collection! Talk about cynical manipulation of the legal system to maintain your 20th Century idea of control over music.
The funny part is that they actually are making it available for download on BobDylan.com, but only for people who sign on from Germany and France. Everyone else including the US is shit out of luck.
Yet by issuing the collection in such a limited way, they are missing a golden opportunity to actually, you know, make money.
That's because there is a huge Dylan fan base out there who would be happy to buy a CD collection of his rare early works. They could distribute on vinyl, CD, DVD with films and interviews and online on iTunes, Google Play and elsewhere including BobDylan.com.
It's all so wonderfully simple, it's a wonder that there isn't a record company executive who isn't jumping on this idea. But they can't see beyond their own greed and desire to own and control the music--and the likely end result is that it will get boot legged and distributed on some pirate sites.
What is the point of owning the music people would buy, and leaving it in a vault somewhere? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever except perhaps in the warped mind of a big record company executive. It completely defies business logic to behave in this fashion.
Of course, when these collections do end up on Bit Torrent or Pirate Bay, the record companies will bitch and moan about how they are being cheated by the Internet.
How do these people ever make money? Oh that's right, they don't anymore -- and no wonder.
Photo Credit: currybet