Yearly Archives: 2004

Air America

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Andrew Cline has a yawn for Air America:

I have questioned the concept of liberal talk radio before…… I don’t think it will draw much of an audience; it’s not a good business concept.

He has quite a bit to say about this and sums up with:

What sells in electronic media is ideological validation. The right has perfected its talking points and its media personalities to such an extent that they present an entertaining product for people who wish to bask in the glory of their own ideology. I do not believe this basking is a good thing for the continued health of a democratic republic. And I do not think liberals should stoop to imitating it. It’s a lot like admitting ideological defeat.

This seems about right. When I listen to the right wing talk folks I generally hear a lot of this basking and stroking and generally code words (liberal, hilory, bush hater, etc) substituting for thoughtful analysis. If this becomes all Air America offers then why bother.
But, I’ill withhold judgement until I’ve had a chance to listen for a few months.

Downloading has an Impact on Music Sales

This entry was posted in Capitalism Culture Economics Intellectual Property Music on by

The impact, though, is very small and in some cases positive:

This estimated effect is statistically indistinguishable from zero despite a narrow standard error. The economic effect is also small. Even in the most pessimistic specification, five thousand downloads are needed to displace a single album sale. We also find that file sharing has a differential impact across sales categories. For example, high selling albums actually benefit from file
sharing.

So, as has been recently mentioned here the content providers and in particular the RIAA might want to take another look at their business models. Perhaps the artists should consider whether they really want to be involved with the RIAA members.
On the other hand Newmark’s Door links to this study which argues that there is a significant impact. I hope Craig does take a closer look at the two studies and write something on their comparative validity from a technical perspective.
Initial link to the Strumpf Oberholzer-gee study via Boing Boing.

Free Culture Discussion

This entry was posted in Capitalism Constitution Culture Economics Information Intellectual Property Internet on by

Read along with Lawrence Solum a he discusses Free Culture:

This is the first of eight posts on Lessig’s book–a sort of blogospheric book club. You are invited to read along, and to send your comments on the book, my posts, or on the comments of other readers.

The class reading schedule may be a bit agressive if you are not an academic (faculty or student) but if you are at all interested in intellectual property issues and the internet you will be well served to join in.
Via Lawrenc Lessig.
Update: Lawrence Lessig discusses the rationale for the free offering.
Update (3/31): Tech Law Advisor notes that a Wiki of Free Culture has been created.