The Offspring and Coldplay made free song downloads available to in an effort to promote their albums. We see this strategy all the time from record companies. Those of you that are familiar with the iTunes Free Single of the Week will know what I’m talking about. This strategy confuses me though, since the RIAA continuously fights file sharing.

It’s a fact that free music downloads actually help album sales. I always buy albums that I think are good, because I actually want to own them. Recently a friend burned me a copy of a Green Day album. I had the copy and didn’t need to buy it, but I did. Why? Because the album was good and Green Day and the record company deserve my money.

Back in the days when tapes were traded, the same thing held true. A friend would give me a tape they made, and if I liked what I heard, I went out and bought the album. Shockingly, tape trading was mainly how Metallica rocketed to fame. Yet years ago they started the fight against file sharing.

If free music is the evil entity for record companies, why do they practice giving music away for free themselves? They must think by giving away their tunes it will help sales on albums, otherwise they wouldn’t make the files available for free. Why not just let people trade freely if it’s so positive for them? I know some people will abuse the system and not purchase the album when they should. This rule applies to anything, including the late, great days when tapes were passed around, but the record companies need to stop fighting against the listening public who embrace free downloads and instead embrace the system for what it is. The freedom and love of music.

While in Chicago 2 weeks ago, I visited a place that has so far survived the shakeout of record stores from the commercial landscape, Rolling Stone Records. It was one of the only places on the Northwest side of Chicago that for many years you’d be sure to find that single or album that you just had to have. They used to have everything in stock whenever you went there. An old album by Elvis? Sure! Guns N’ Roses’ latest? Absolutely!

Sadly, things have changed. I went this time only to find they seem to only carry are a few of the latest CD’s along with some greatest hits albums from the older bands. If you wanted older albums from the Smashing Pumpkins or Green Day, you would be out of luck at Rolling Stone now. And if you want a single? Ha! No friggin’ way! Oh how I longed for the day when they had the single cassette tapes lining the wall near the cashier. Now it’s replaced with DVD movies.

This will probably be my last visit to Rolling Stone as it seems to be in a downfall. The place was a ghost town when I visited. I think the only other customer that came in while I was there was buying porn. I walked out with a Greed Day album that featured a live performance and a Garbage compilation. Truly it was all they had that I was interested in. I guess Wal-Mart, Target or Amazon are the only places you can surely get almost any album you want now. It’s a sad era indeed.

Well of course we know part of the answer to why people don’t buy CDs anymore would be because they have been downloading music. Sure, that is part of it, but haven’t you ever heard somebody buying a CD say “I just wanted to have the actual CD.” There certainly is something different about owning the actual copy of the CD, complete with jewel case and booklet. At least that’s the way I used to feel whenever I bought an album.

Back in the day of actual records, you would buy an album and get so much. Not only did you get the beautiful vinyl disc, but you usually also got a nice booklet complete with pictures, lyrics and sometimes a poster. The Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers even came with a cool zipper on the front of the album. When CDs came along, a little of that was lost. Books were still included with the discs, but they weren’t as large and nice as the ones included with records. Today, you’re lucky to even get lyrics with your CD. The last CD I bought included a cover that unfolded into only 2 pages of senseless art.

Sometimes they get it right. Recently I’ve seen a few CDs include a DVD that usually includes videos and other items. When I bought the Ben Folds Live CD, included was a nice DVD of a concert performance. I’d be perfectly willing to spend my money on a CD when stuff like that is included. However, the recording industry seems content continuing to sell us a jewel case and 10 cent disc for $14.

It’s been quite obvious that the recording industry is losing money for quite some time. U.S. album sales have fallen 9.5% in 2007. Every article you read about this blames file sharing networks. How can this be when sales of digital music sales have soared 45%? Not all people with computers know how to use a file sharing network. Even though I am in the technical industry, I can honestly say that half my friends probably don’t even know what a file sharing network is. Many that do know don’t even use file sharing networks to get their tunes. I even buy more music on iTunes now more than I ever did in the day of record stores. If you asked me, file sharing networks are a very small problem for the recording industry. They have bigger problems to fix.

Music sucks

Yes, I’m saying it. Music sucks these days! Bands and groups are often manufactured, and I believe music fans are tired of it. There’s no kid in his garage with a guitar anymore just making music from the heart. Bands and music are made like movies now, to meet a certain demographic. Hardly any of it is worth buying.

People used to be able to find many albums where every song was great. Now you’re lucky to get 3 songs you enjoy listening to on one album. Songs and albums have also gotten shorter. Gone are the days of the 10 minute long epic song. Now the average song seems to be between 2 and 3 minutes long, yet albums still contain only about 10, 12 or sometimes as little as 8 songs.

I listen to my radio

We now live in the age of radio, HD Radio, XM and Sirius. We have many more ways to listen to our music now. We can always find something that we like with all of these different options. People used to buy tapes and CD’s to listen to when nothing good was playing on the radio. With all these options, demand for CD’s just fall to the side.

MTV doesn’t really play music videos anymore

I feel MTV was huge for the recording industry back in the 80’s and 90’s. Everybody was watching MTV for music videos. This was a 24 hour advertisement for the music industry that they have since lost. I believe the best move for the recording industry would be to step up and make their own music video cable channel.

We have cooler things to buy

Video games, robots and software. The music industry has to compete with these things too. We have many more choices when we go to Best Buy to buy things. The music industry has failed to advance and adjust to the demands of the market and make new products available. Halo 3 is just much more cooler to purchase than a CD.

The RIAA’s Attitude

The whole deal with the RIAA crying about losing money and going broke is wearing on consumers. After years of record sales and pretty much raping consumers with high prices, they now cry about losing money. Now the RIAA is even crying about people ripping the music they own. Instead of building relationships with their customers, they bitch about everything they do with their music. This turns many people off and is the reason many people use file sharing networks in the first place.

The constant battle between the RIAA and consumers has got to end. If maybe the recording industry just worked on some of their other problems, they would be able to compensate for lost sales. It’s easier to point the finger and place blame. It’s also why, the recording industry will continue to lose money, because us consumers have better things to spend money on.