Back in February, we blogged about a partnership between Napster and XM Satellite radio that would allow owners of certain portable MP3 players with XM to ‘bookmark’ songs they enjoyed while listening to XM, and then when they get home, dock the player, and it connects to Napster and automatically downloads the songs that the user bookmarked. Sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it? Provides a convienience for the owner, and gives artists a way to make some extra cash off their tunes. Of course it means more money for the record labels themselves. Everyone wins here. So of course that means that here comes the money-grubbing labels to screw it all up. Reuters(via Coolfer) has the story about a new bill being introduced that would require XM and Sirius to PAY for making it easier for users to purchase music legally.

Warner Music Group chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. endorsed the legislation in testimony prepared for a hearing on the issue scheduled for Wednesday. “When I see a device that permits consumers to identify the specific tracks they want from a satellite broadcast, record them and library them for future use, I call that device an iPod and I call the satellite service making that device available a download service,”

What you THINK you see is a way to make some extra cash. What you have done is make it HARDER for labels to sell their music. Did you hear that? HARDER. Explain to me again why this is a good idea. This is why music sales are down, because every time a new technology or service comes about to make it EASIER for music to be sold, the labels try to find a way to make MORE money off it. Look at iTunes….digital sales of music go through the roof, so the labels step in and decide that they want Jobs to RAISE prices. Amazing. The labels are in a self-imposed downward spiral. They do everything they can to allienate the community they are supposed to be serving, which leads to lost sales. Their response to make up for the lost sales, is to find ways to milk more cash out of the companies that are trying to raise sales, such as iTunes and XM. So we have a situation where the ‘producer’ is doing everything it can to alleniate its distributors, and its customers. When sales fall off, the producer (labels and RIAA) passes the blame along to the distributors (XM and iTunes), and the customers(all these supposed ‘illegal’ downloaders). I have no problem with the RIAA and the money-grubbing record labels saying ‘You guys are the problem’, I just want them to hold up a mirror before they do.