Music industry looks to kiosks to quell piracy

Further demonstrating that the music industry has no idea about how to actually add value to any process whatsoever, a group of 1,600 of them got together at this year's National Association of Recording Merchants convention to discuss business. Not able to figure out how to make money on online sales (like, say, Apple does), many instead came to the conclusion that CD-burning kiosks were the solution. From the article:

Some NARM panelists pointed to CD kiosks as a possible solution. These kiosks allow shoppers to buy and download music directly on to portable devices compatible with Windows Media Player 10. They also touted the potential of these kiosks to promote small-label indie artists and major-label acts alike, and spoke excitedly about offering customers live performances on disc the day after a concert has taken place, locally, regionally or nationally.

The kiosks could also offer favorite tracks of employees' and compilations of songs by popular artists, in addition to promoting songs by similar artists and offering songs before their official release. In addition, the kiosks can allow listeners to sample music before buying and downloading it.

But the panelists seemed unconcerned that these kiosks do not allow shoppers to download music onto iPods, which many consumers clearly favor for playing recorded music.

Nor did any panelists adequately address the fact that the kiosks are unlikely to attract young music fans, even while admitting that many young listeners prefer to acquire music from the Internet, legally or not, from the comfort of their homes or dorm rooms.

The rest of the article is here. Clearly they are going to need some help on the matter :)