By Mike Masnick, Techdirt. – August 17, 2010 at 01:03PM
Hypebot points us to the news that in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, the magazine supposedly (can anyone confirm that this is real? — Update: thanks to commenters who pointed out that this is real… but it’s from 2002) has a nice ‘big fat thanks to record execs’ for pretty much screwing up their chance to embrace the way music is being shared and exchanged online:
If you don’t have images turned on, here’s the text:
A big fat thanks to record execsThank you for fighting the good fight against Internet MP3 file-swapping. Because of you, millions of kids will stop wasting time listening to new music and seeking out new bands. No more spreading the word to complete strangers about your artists. No more harmful exposure to thousands of bands via Internet radio either. With any luck they won’t talk about music at all. You probably knew you’d make millions by embracing the technology. After all, the kids swapping were like ten times more likely to buy CD’s, making your cause all the more admirable. It must have cost a bundle in future revenue, but don’t worry — computer are just a fad anyway, and the Internet is just plain stupid.
Rolling Stone
Of course, it’s probably worth pointing out that Rolling Stone isn’t exactly known for embracing the internet, either — recently letting a bunch of other publications get the first mover traffic on its story that resulted in a shakeup in the military chain of command. Still, assuming this ad is accurate, it’s only taken the industry’s leading magazine, what, a dozen years to catch up with what many music fans have been saying since Napster came on the scene. Update: Well, now that it turns out this is from 2002, we can give Rolling Stone at least some props for figuring this out earlier — but note that the RIAA execs absolutely did not listen. 2003 was when they ramped up their legal campaign against file sharers directly.
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