2:59

There’s a fair amount of rustling in the music industry bushes these past few weeks. Nothing out in the open, but definite evidence that something is moving among the foliage, hidden in the underbrush. Firstly one of the kids facing the RIAA Gestapo is very publicly fighting back, in many ways trying to simply legally say what everyone’s been thinking for the past few years. Next, Steve Jobs publishes a rather forward statement against DRM and tries to shift some pressure onto the European majors. Finally there’s word that the summer’s Ozzfest will have free admission.

These aren’t so much revolutionary actions, but they are all are rather interesting shifts in perspective. None of them are necessarily noble, mind you, as the each of the parties involved serves to benefit if their wishes are granted. The teen fighting the industry is voicing an opinion that’s quite the norm in internet communities, but him winning saves his own hyde. Apple’s meanwhile has been under increasing pressure in Europe over their business model and Jobs is constantly in heated negotiations with the majors over the iTunes Store. As for Ozzfest, well, if you’ve ever had to buy water or food at a summer festival you know the organizers probably aren’t hurting for incomes streams. However there’s a feel in the air that the status quo of the past few years is on the way out, and I’d wager that despite the interests involved the public could get behind these sentiments.

If you really want some perspective on how these actions are perceived from within, give five minutes of your time to the bickering on industry message board the Velvet Rope. All three subjects are of course being debated there, and there’s a level of contempt boiling that just makes me ill. I may not agree with music piracy (and I don’t) and you’d never catch me appreciating the horrible music that Ozzfest promotes, but even after the past decade of entropy and tactless evolutionary failure there are still industry folks out there that harbour a dangerous level of disconnect with what the average person values.