Often music fans forget the music industry is just that: an industry.Conversely, often times the music industry forgets its consumers are music fans.Take the major debacle created by Roadrunner Records last year. Amanda Palmer of the cult-followed cabaret rock band The Dresden Dolls was set to release a solo album through the company. After making a video for her single, Roadrunner told her it wouldn’t promote her album unless she cut images of her “fat” belly from the video. Her belly wasn’t particularly flabby at all—it was about as normal as a girl’s belly gets. But the company thought it could get more customers by cutting the images.It was wrong.Palmer reacted by asking to be removed from the label, and the fans reacted by rebelling against the company. The whole fiasco did nothing but help Palmer by giving her some unknown national recognition.The music industry is a business. And often times business and art do not mix.Another example would be Capitol Records, the record label with whom rock giants Radiohead used to be signed.Radiohead decided to release its latest release “In Rainbows” without the label. Instead, the band used a Web site pay-what-you-want plan, which allowed users to decided what to pay — even nothing — for the record. Radiohead made more money from this than previous album sales and was content with its decision.Capitol was not. Seemingly in response, Capitol rereleased Radiohead’s discography and even made a few greatest hits albums that Radiohead had nothing to do with and that angered fans.EMI Toshiba, another label involved with Radiohead, released “Com Lag EP,” a Radiohead EP, with a glaring technical error that make the first track unlistenable. The company refused to recall it at the time of its release, even with the knowledge of the error.Now, Apple Corps/EMI! is rereleasing all of the Beatles’ “original recorded catalogue.” Of course, there will be some remastering done on the discs, and tons of copies will fly off the shelves.But why?The music industry is an industry, no doubt. And the money it makes off stunts like this help it put out more new music.But I can’t help but feel there is a certain bit of laziness and greed behind moves like this one that keep smaller bands off the major labels where they could have access to tools to become the “next Beatles.”Obviously, no one is forced to buy this set. And some fans will like the idea of having these records remastered. Again.But, at the same time, if the time and effort put into releasing music that is already as culturally prevalent as the Beatles was put into finding new bands and helping them create their own presence, the music world might be a whole lot more interesting right now.But major labels are beginning to feel threatened.Radiohead managed to make more money off a label than on one. Sure being on the label for so long helped the band reach this point, but it is not the only example.Take Lil’ Wayne, the superstar rapper hailing from New Orleans who releases free songs on the Internet constantly. Through these mix tapes, he was able to sell more than one million copies of his first studio album “Tha Carter III” when it was finally released.The music industry is an industry, but its model of releasing things already released in slightly new forms is not helping music. It’s not making it more interesting, and it’s not making it more enjoyable.And music fans should stop supporting these tricks.Otherwise, music will fall further into the stagnant state which it seems to be slipping.Travis Andrews is a 21-year-old English major from Metairie.—-Contact Travis Andrews at [email protected]