Metafilter” just sent me to this great Frontline interview with David Crosby during which he touches on the future of the record companies:

Now they’re going in the tank, because the world has changed, and they did not change with it. They bit the poison pill, without realizing it, when they went digital. Once a thing is in digital domain, it can be copied as many times as you want. And there is no system that can keep it from being copied. You can devise the most clever one you want, and I will bring some little geek with a pen protector in his pocket into the room and he will fix it in a minute. …

Yes! Justice is ours!

I remember when CDs occupied a tiny corner of my local record store. The technology aspect of them was seductive—high tech labeling ( remember DDD?), lasers, cardboard longboxes - but the price was prohibitive (something over $20.00 in the eighties when a record was $6.98$8.99). I stuck with records for two reasons: the price and the artwork, despite being prodded by every marketing effort that CDs were the future. I remember Martha Quinn, the original MTV VJ, talking about how great they were and throwing one around like a frisbee to demonstrate its permanence. The lies were endless. We were told the CD would last forever, was indestructible, was a perfect digital copy of the original recording.

Of all the promises, only one was true: a digital copy would last forever. What the record companies didn’t tell us was that the disks themselves wouldn’t last and it would be up to “the network” to preserve them.

Eventually, the companies pushed vinyl out, and began selling “albums” at nearly twice the price. Record companies reported record profits, and thing were gangbusters.

Now, they’re on the verge of the the end. And I’m glad for it. Because I know that music will continue.

I’m not saying that music will be free, nor advocating piracy or copyright violation. I’m just illustrating that record companies thought (and still think) that they are the only game in town and the only way for the people to hear new artists and tunes, but they are so wrong. Here’s why: the business has changed.

When asked if the “new model” works out, David enthusiastically responds:

You bet. And I’m going to get a lot more. No packaging cost, no promotion, no lairs of distributors, each taking 20 percent off as it goes by. No returns, no free goods, nada! [laughter] No costs! That’s a good business model that works…

Smart companies (like, hopefully, Apple) will open their distribution networks, and the Internet world will take care of the marketing. P2P, Bittorrent, DRM—it’s all going to come together and bring the music to us the way we want it. Guaranteed.