"The Internet is Ruining America's Movies and Music"

So says Elizabeth Wurtzel, attorney and author of Prozac Nation. Now that you know her qualifications to make this statement, let's take a look at some of her support:

"Today's music industry is either moribund or dead, depending on whom you ask. Downloading has destroyed it, and no one in the business is smart enough to figure out how to fix it."

OOH! Downloading is killing the music industry! Yet Miss Wurtzel conveniently avoids examples of how musicians are making internet sales work for them - like Radiohead, for example, who sold $9 million worth of "In Rainbows" after it was released only as a digital download.

Maybe downloading has taken away from music sales. Those of you who get the latest without paying for them are part of the problem. But downloading is not the only reason for lousy sales, and it's probably not the main reason.

I'd offer the homogenization of radio formats as one CD sales killer. Drive cross country and try to find major stations that promote new artists (those that aren't part of the Top 40 format). Who plays Wilco, Fleet Foxes, M.I.A. BonIver, or Miss Wurtzel's example, Pete Yorn?

Add the demise of the local record store, and you can see why we're less likely to go nuts for a new artist or line up for a new release the night before it drops (this does not apply to the new Jonas Brothers CD, which my daughter and niece are begging me to pick up on Tuesday). Seriously, look through any Best Buy and see if they carry Over the Rhine - or if they know where it should be displayed (Rock, O - I found three different OTR titles in three separate sections of the local big box, sorted by title instead of artist).

Miss Wurtzel claims that entertainment and culture are our two big exports, and that illegal downloading is killing the industry and, therefore, adding to our nation's economic woes. Maybe that's a part of the problem, but China's pretty big on getting as much Appalachian coal as possible these days, and they're not asking for a side of Hannah Montana.

APE Language students, beware: I will use this as an example of how NOT to present an argument. It's disjointed, lacks sufficient support, and relies on extremes (everything, no one, etc.). In the meantime, do Miss Wurtzel and your humble blogger a favor: pay for your MP3s, please.