The Music Industry

Yes, I know I'm writing about music AGAIN. Sorry if you're not that into it, but I am.
Don't worry though, I'm not going to talk about some artist that you'll probably never listen to again. This time I'm going to express my opinions about something that people might have more of an interest to people: business and the music industry. This article here was tweeted by Anthony Fantano, whom I've blogged about before and I think the question it raises is incredibly important, and it's one that I have a very strong opinion on.
The question it raises is whether you own digital MP3s in the same way that you own physical CDs. In other words, do you have the right to sell your digital MP3s like you would be able to sell a physical CD. My view, and it's shared by the people who made ReDigi, is absolutely yes, you should be able to. Especially in an era of technology where one can pull a file off of a CD with ease, it doesn't make any sense to treat the files as different from the CD.
In fact, I'm pretty sure the only organization that would unanimously disagree with this idea is the Recording Industry Association of America, the RIAA. Colloquially referred to as "the recording industry", this collection of labels and distributors has been fighting tooth and nail against its own impending death, and the legal battle that they'll bring to ReDigi and other businesses like it are only the final thrashes of a dying beast.
A little background. Until very recently (the past decade, or less) the RIAA was the place as far as music went. The way for a band to hit the top was to sign a label that was part of it, and pretty much every dollar related to music went through it. Because of the limited nature of CDs, they had very tight control on "intellectual property" and attacked copyright infringement with a vengeance. Recently though, their pedestal has been falling. Acts like Macklemore or Watsky have made it big without signing labels, and sites like Bandcamp allow artists to effortlessly sell their own music without going through the distribution of the RIAA. Radio and CD, the Association's two big mainstays are on the down fall and digital distribution and cheap, quality recording equipment have contributed to a massive democratization of the creation and distribution of music.
The trends of the last decade have pulled the power out of the hands of large organizations and corporations and into the hands of regular people and artists. One needs to look no further than Amanda Palmer to understand how extremely the shape of the music industry has changed. She has made a living by giving her music away for free. Confused? Watch her TED talk. Not only is it a brilliant example of how the RIAA is losing control, it's an inspiring speech with many different applications, even outside of art.