Let’s learn a new word

August 3rd 2008 10:09 pm

Normally we just talk about monopolies (*cough* Microsoft cough), so it is of no suprise that this word was a tad new to me. I have the feeling I’ve heard of it before but it didn’t pop out when I was trying to describe what I had in mind. Anyway, the word of the day (despite what my sidebar says) is oligopoly.

An oligopoly is when a few select parties control a market, instead of a single entity as in a monopoly. This idea popped into my head when I read the RIAA quote in the internet radio discussion:

Well, we don’t really model this as an industry with thousands of webcasters, we think it should be an industry with, you know, five or seven big players who can pay a high rate and it’s a stable, predictable market.

So like the music and movie production industries, the television and radio broadcasting industries, they want to cripple the internet radio industry like they have the others. The industries concerning music and movie production and television and radio broadcasting are oligopolies whether you want to belive it or not. Sure there are a few smaller players and independent labels and studios and stations, but really, it’s all controlled by a select few. If the small companies get out of line, the big players have the muscle to ‘fix’ the problem. The nice thing about the internet is anybody can be anything on the internet so if you want to be a radio DJ you can. Assuming internet radio was treated like regular radio, sure you’d still have to pay fees for music you want to play, but you don’t need the overhead cost of a big building, and broadcasting equipment. You could run your entire setup off free software and the things you’d have to pay for would be bandwidth and the normal copyright fees like any radio station, and those could be paid for by advertising. But no, the RIAA screwed it up again for the regular joe.

In this situation, an oligopoly is just as bad as a monopoly.

Thanks RIAA!