Alex Harries's diary

Today's "other rant" is about the music industry (again, probably) - I know naff-all about business economics, but I do know what hypocrisy smells like when I see it...

TAFKAP is giving away his new album free to readers of a certain newspaper. Mr. Quirk of the Entertainment Retailers Association says, "It is an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career."

How about the insultingly high prices of CD albums in high street stores, Mr. Quirk? Good work TAFKAP; I'm sure you're making your millions off this "give-away" anyway, but losing the big stores from the high street (Fopp: gone, HMV: going?) might not be the end of the world for the music industry, or for DJs looking for the latest vinyl, either; shops like Plastic Fantastic will still be around as the nightclub and DJ industries keep vinyl alive long past its sell-by date (a good thing, I think?), and legally downloaded tunes become more and more widespread as technology makes it easier and easier to get good-quality, reasonably-priced music online.

It'll be interesting to see how this one pans out. 

The BBC has run a 'Let's state the obvious' story today, as the National Consumer Council says the hidden costs of "free banking" should be investigated.

• Banks 'crippling' the vulbnerable - BBC News

Obviously, though, it can only be a good thing that these issues are being highlighted - students are among the most vulnerable group of people who can be hit with repeated charges, and their limited income, usually in Student Loan chunks, means banks can expect to be able to hit students with numerous charges as students' loan money runs out, safe in the knowledge that further loan payments will be coming soon to cover these amounts.

In my second year at Uni, my account ran almost £300 into the red just because of bank charges - of course, that was taken out of my next loan payment (of around £900), and breaking out of that cycle is never as simple as the banks' advice to "stay in credit".

One suggestion is to allow customers to have a £100 buffer zone. Unlike current buffer zones, only standing orders and direct debits would be authorised, for example; cash machine withdrawals and debit card payments wouldn't be authorised, but the point is that the customer would have to go more than £100 over their overdraft before charges were levied.

Of course, banks could simply stop levying charges - a system which, as the BBC article highlights, lands people in a poverty trap it can be hard or impossible to get out of - and simply charge a fixed monthly fee for banking. Personally, I'd rather pay £10 a month for the rest of my life for the privilege of letting someone look after my money if the alternative is to constantly worry that I'm going to be paying hundred of pounds a month to cover bank charges.

... Ok, rant over. Hopefully next year we as a Union will get the chance to put together some really useful advice for students on managing their ever-increasingly stretched money. If you have any tips on surviving on a shoe-string budget, send them to me!