No Rock And Roll Fun

THEY REALLY ARE UNBELIEVABLE: As if their assault on CD Wow isn't enough, the BPI are striving to make themselves even more unpopular and to look even more stupid and petty by launching an investigation into Amazon. The BPI is worried that Amazon is providing its clients (i.e. us) with records from the US and not the more expensive but identical product they offer in the UK. The BPI claims that this is all routine, which really makes things worse, not better: they regularly check out to see where Amazon's stock comes from?

Let's not forget that if the BPI is really that concerned that Amazon is able to undecut the prices charged on the highstreet by sourcing records from the US, that would be because British CD prices are ridiculously enormous and that Amazon buys most of its CD stock from America's major labels - who are also Britain's major labels, and as such the basis of the BPI. So if it really is a problem, rather than getting the blundering charlies of the BPI to poke about in boxes outside the Buckinghamshire headquarters of Amazon, why don't the members ring up their American counterparts and tell them not to sell to Amazon?

Well, obviously, because the British heads of the international labels are on a par with the people who make sure the photocopiers are full of toner in overseas HQs. But that's not the point. What this case is about isn't anything to do with the companies being poorly treated, or even criminally deprived of their income. What Amazon are able to do is charge a fair, floating market price for music product - and the labels are scared shitless at losing their power to dictate terms. We'd guess HMV and Virgin are putting heavy pressure on the distibutors to cut the cost of the CDs they buy wholesale, to give them a fair chance of competing against the online companies (and supermarkets, who don't care about making profits on a couple of albums, providing people buy a shedload of Shreddies and Dog Food at the same time). And rather than comply, the BPI response is to try and artificially force online prices up instead. The music industry isn't just trying to force genies back into the bottle; they're so scared of the modern world, we'd imagine they'll shortly be bringing legal action in a bid to reversethe results of the Big Bang.