Due to steadily declining CD sales and a weakened economy, music industry revenue plummeted from $14.5 billion to $8.5 billion, between 1999 and 2008. In that time, changes and staff reductions at the RIAA, the music industry's largest trade group in America, have been ongoing. But the recent round of job cuts at the RIAA, which are expected to come down as early as next Tuesday, are being called a "bloodbath" by an insider source at hypebot.com. In addition to some positions being limited by attrition, layoffs are expected to claim anywhere between 31 to 90 of the company's 104 employees, or at least no less than 30% of RIAA's entire workforce, according to CNET News.
Recent woes at the RIAA are just the latest example of the cost the music industry is having to pay for years of bad policy. Wild West style mergers and acquisitions has left just four major labels (Universal, Sony, BMG, and Warner) that dominate recorded music. After industry consolidation, the "Big 4" wasted no time in limiting and centralizing their product. C- and B-list artists, who through their creativity and individuality had long maintained decent and core fan bases, increasingly found themselves without a label home. Moreover, the labels shifted from an album-based product model to a singles-based product model; in the process, they ushered in a wave of new "copycat" artists and an era of low-quality music. Furthermore, using their nearsighted, greed-based zeal for any revenue even remotely associated with recorded music, the Big 4, (through there strong-arm representative, the RIAA), went after Napster.
Though the RIAA won their court battle against Napster, effectively shutting down the giant internet file sharing company, they effectively lost the sales war...in a big way! Because of their absolute ignorance of the actual flow of technology and the power of the world's most unstoppable vanguard that is the internet, the Big 4 not only shot themselves in the foot, they managed to hit both ankles, a knee, and a pinky toe boot. Soon after the Napster victory (loss), once again, in their nearsighted gluttoness, the RIAA announced plans to sue as many as 30,000 individuals for file sharing infractions. Apparently, the greedy blokes didn't realize what this would all mean: the advent of new and better music file sharing services; the creation of a culture that feels "entitled" to free music; and absolute litigation hell.
Well, after five years, the RIAA has been forced to deal with the reality of the culture and climate of free music that they indeed mostly created. Here, it's important to note that the RIAA could have gone into business with Napster. Heck, they could have bought Napster. But to them, the upstart company did not respect their right to rip off artists, centralize product, and stem quality of popular music. How dare Napster!
What does this all mean for sampling?
It's clear that labels are, and have been for a while, running out of money. Through in a rotten economy, and they're no longer in trouble: they're in crisis! Here, it's important to point out that there are only so many cuts that the industry can make before their business model completely collapses. Will there be more mergers? Sure, of course. In this environment, merges are the last line of survival before bankruptcy. However, there is a tremendous amount of difference between mergers and acquisitions that are based on a company's plan to expand and mergers and acquisitions that are based on a company's desperate attempt to survive.
A careful reading of the RIAA's recent woes reveals that they haven't the money, resources, and/or man power to continue to fight any of their terror-style litigation battles. And I've long maintained the inevitably of the end of the "non-law" regarding sampling. I've written before that the music industry's attitude towards sampling and sample clearance would become increasingly laxed, eventually leading to most forms of sampling being considered "fair use" or something in the like, where some forms of sampling are legally permissive without the need of permission and/or clearance. The RIAA bloodbath is just more evidence of the inevitable.
-Amir Said
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