Standing Down For The Man

I think it’s quite apposite that John Harris’s defence of record companies appeared alongside reports of the RIAA’s victory over Jammie Thomas. It’s rather hard to dredge up any sympathy for a group of companies that have inflicted a $220,000 fine on a person for sharing 24 songs (monetary value from iTunes: $23.76. It’s also worth noting that she got away lightly - if it was determined that she was sharing the files ‘wilfully’, she could have been liable for a fine of $150,000 per song). Especially when, during the course of the trial, they attempted to deny the existence of the space-shifting precedent defined in RIAA vs. Diamond Multimedia.

And really? The Klaxons and Kasabian as art over the marketing department? Sure, they're not exactly Rihanna in sales-stakes, but neither are they Disco Inferno. Kasabian are exactly sort of Britpop-revival-by-numbers band that bumps up a record company's figures, aren't they?

I'm not going to deny that record companies can be very helpful to a band (I'm a Factory fanatic, after all). I just don't think the current giants are good examples of this tradition. When even Kelly Clarkson has trouble getting her album released, there's something wrong in the Big 5 (or is it 3 now? Sony-BMG-Universal, EMI, and…Warners, I guess?)

Anyway, make mine a 99!

KLF – Justified and Ancient (Make mine a '99')