If MS would let me trade in an iPod for a Zune, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I can't see spending $250 on another mp3 player that I wouldn't use much.
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iPod More Microsoft Zune BS, Secret Goal=Make Ipod Cost More
- Thread starter IlluminatedSage
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If MS would let me trade in an iPod for a Zune, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I can't see spending $250 on another mp3 player that I wouldn't use much.
Then why didn't they hop on the digital bandwagon when they had a chance? This isn't about not being able to afford to do something, this is about their own stupidity and inability to harness one of the most revolutionary means of content distribution.
Ah, therein lies the rub, we'll be hearing a lot more truly great music these days simply because small bands don't need to sell their souls to the record companies to make music. There's a big and powerful local music scene in every corner of the world. With services like iTunes, it's now possible for every single one of those bands to have worldwide exposure. We've already begun to see how powerful this can be.
For music, the internet is the great equalizer, even the duds at clearchannel have realized this as their generic format has become increasingly irrelevant.
It's nice to know that no longer will manufactured bands be foisted on the public. Universal's grave is already being dug.
If I had a zune, and I knew $10 or so was going to Universal to cover the costs of pirate music, I would not buy another Universal record, I would bittorrent them as I would have paid for it already in a roundabout way.
Think about all the wonderful artists we do hear about here in the UK because the big national radio stations devote time to listening to demo tapes and stuff off myspace, The arctic monkeys over here got to #1 in the charts on the back of free p2p, self premoting themselves, myspace and Radio 1 having mainstream shows devoted to getting music that is good and unsigned/signed to small record labels played to the nation. We don't need big record companies to take the risk, you just need decent radio stations that aren't bribed to play generic big label rubbish, and will air music that is small and good, you also need a place like myspace, and then you will find that the good music will find it's way to the top anyway, the artists will get a better deal, everyone is happy (apart form universal, bmg etc, but who cares about them anyway)
I don't think that we'll necessarily not hear the artists. What will happen is that almost noone will make a living from recording and selling their music because they'll be working day-jobs instead of seeing music as a full-time paying occupation. I personally see most music as heading for independent labels. If I look at my last 20 purchases, only the new Mars Volta LP came from a recording backed by a major label, and the vinyl version is released by Gold Standard Labs, if I remember correctly.
With the big 3 music companies pursuing their culturally-bankrupt agendas, most music worth listening to these days isn't coming from them anyway.
Anyway, just wanted to register my digust at this move by Microsoft. It's very clear what their intentions are by introducing this 'Universal Music tax'.
One other thing. The big record companies aren't about supporting live music either. That's why they're so concerned about protecting their revenue streams from music sales. I'd advise people to support live music wherever they can, and make music purchases at live shows, because a much greater proportion of your money spent that way goes to the band.
In Europe there is a copyright-fee on every copy made in a copyshop and on every copier sold, maybe in the US also. Blank CD's, DVD's and cassettes to.
Ahh, I am hearing more on why Microsoft paid Universal a not too big amount per machine sold.
They have a new format for the store. not quite what they had before on MSN. so basically they greased the wheels with Universal Music Group to get them to say yes to getting their content for sale within it.
Doesnt make complete sense. but thats what supposedly happened
They have a new format for the store. not quite what they had before on MSN. so basically they greased the wheels with Universal Music Group to get them to say yes to getting their content for sale within it.
Doesnt make complete sense. but thats what supposedly happened
Hehehehehe... Zune purchasers!
This price reduction will have to be coupled with the price reduction the poor sobs get for having already bought the same music in a Plays For Sure store only to find it no longer works with their Zune and being forced to purchase it again.
Their most devious act for me was to sell songs at 79 MShit points, which is exactly the iTS price, but I'm guessing that little detail won't make it into articles and such and such. (especially not outside the IT world)
Cool!
This "Vinyl 4Ever!" nonsense has got to stop.
The truth is that vinyl is not a great medium. Yeah, I said it. There are many reasons for this, chief among them that the record sounds worse every time you play it. There's also the crap with buying a brand new record (made of recycled PVC) that already has clicks and pops in it. The static charge that accumulates, cheerfully gluing dust into the tiny nooks and crooks of your "Kenny Rogers and the First Edition" LP. Clicks, pops, skips, wow, flutter, tonearm vibrations, a noise floor that is put to shame by normal consumer grade digital stuff. Each copy made is inferior.
Not to mention the ease of using something like iTunes to skip around tracks, to categorize them however I see fit, to cheerfully random around until I find something I want to listen to, to not have to ever listen to that horrible "Bennie the Bouncer" or "Lady Godiva" or whatever. I might be wrong, but I don't believe there are any turntables with remote controls, 1000-album changers, shuffle mode, a rating system, or, you know, portability.
It's also nice to be able to listen to Quad albums in glorious surround sound, rather than trying to find an expensive quad turntable and receiver, not to mention the prices of quad albums.
Pft... keep the damned vinyl. It's crap. Seriously.
SRS, I'm sure you are accurately describing the current conditions in the recording industry. The problem with the MS "solution" is that it distorts overall economics in the MP3-player industry (by allowing a deep-pocketed monopolist to buy their way in) while giving the recording industry another excuse to refuse to adapt to the new market realities. Businesses SHOULD have to adapt, or die so new businesses and industries can replace them.
Other similiar industries have faced this challenge before and either adapted, died, or learned to live with the consequences. Content providers rarely if ever get a cut of the revenues from playback, display or recording devices.
Besides, the solution to the problem of the recording industry is simple, obvious, and not even original. The answer is simply for the recording industry to stop pretending Brittney Spears is an "artist" and recognize that she is a 100% commercial property. Brittney songs should have paid placements (i.e., Pepsi product references ) as a matter of course. Then it would become in everyone's interest to have these pop songs be played as often as possible regardless of actual CD sales, as Brittney could command huge placement fees. Imagine a product commercial that millions of a prime market demographic--silly teenage girls-- actually turn up when it comes on the radio.
Let's face it, the iPod Photo and 5.5 G iPod were not stellar upgrades. And as far as a Mac Mini with a raid... were is the market for that? Why not just plug in an external FW drive if you need to expand? They might as well make a Mac (Sub) Pro that is $1499 with a Conroe and a four tray HD system with a similar form factor.
Actually Even some artists have said they get .5 - 3 Cents per song. They sell a lot but still. Even though they got sued after coming out about what they get paid.
Have you ever filled out the necessary forms to get media content on iTunes? Not easy. Go back and read earlier posts theres a lot more to it then just getting digital content out to the public. Small bands need the assistance of labels to stay afloat for more then a year or so. It just isnt possible for a band to last here in the US, self supported for an extended period of time.
Yeah. If only it were so here in the US. Clearchannel owns something like 75% of the radio stations in the country, and they often play what pays most. While independent artists can and do join the blanket organizations like ASCAP and BMI, good luck getting DJs to actually play it without payola or papering.
Yes, and when all the artists cant afford to be full-time artists, say goodbye to tours or bands with more then 1 (maybe 2) CDs. As I wrote earlier, being an artists and entertainer was a career and people would learn and grow as they played more and more. Today, however, if you dont have a hit within the first year (or right off the bat), youre gone.
On the contrary, labels ARE supporting live music because a tour is the #1 way to increase music sales and band revenue. Labels are also responsible for pairing artists up with booking agents, and as I wrote earlier, some venues REQUIRE a label as an intermediary in order to even sign a contract.
I agree entirely that taking a cut for hardware is absolutely unreasonable. My original post was just an effort to bring light to how deep the issue of piracy really goes.
Also, my offer from before still stands. If you are willing to draft up a formal proposal with a solution to the problem at hand, I will be more then happy to send it on to the powers that be.
It's Happening Already...sort of
I know of a few bands that have already did this, i dont remember the exact details of how they are doing this but for example The Format's new cd "Dog Problems" they recorded on their own and are selling it on their own the only thing i believe they have is a distribution channel, so this sounds like a good thing since they were dropped from their label.
I know of a few bands that have already did this, i dont remember the exact details of how they are doing this but for example The Format's new cd "Dog Problems" they recorded on their own and are selling it on their own the only thing i believe they have is a distribution channel, so this sounds like a good thing since they were dropped from their label.
I don't know how to do a poll, but there is something I would love to know. How many people actually care about the sound quality of their music? And I don't mean that in terms of 128kbps vs. 320kbps or even 192KHz vs. 44.1KHz; I mean who here is okay paying $12-20 for a CD that sounds quite clearly like it was recorded in someone's basement? Who here thinks they can even tell the difference?
It can be a little disenchanting for those of us who spend massive ammounts of money on the best and highest fidelity audio equipment to produce the best sounding results when we hear from numerous consumers that "garageband would work just as well." So what do you think?
It can be a little disenchanting for those of us who spend massive ammounts of money on the best and highest fidelity audio equipment to produce the best sounding results when we hear from numerous consumers that "garageband would work just as well." So what do you think?
Full discloser of who and what is beniffiting from kick back
This is totally wrong! Why is it that if a realtor sells a piece of property for a seller that the realtor is only allowed to get the commision and not share it with non licensed persons such as the seller...well same reasoning should apply here.. this should be considered as such. Basically this tips the scale of fairness and in doing so it becomes illegal. Its the same reason why an appraiser does not work on commision or kickbacks.
This is totally wrong! Why is it that if a realtor sells a piece of property for a seller that the realtor is only allowed to get the commision and not share it with non licensed persons such as the seller...well same reasoning should apply here.. this should be considered as such. Basically this tips the scale of fairness and in doing so it becomes illegal. Its the same reason why an appraiser does not work on commision or kickbacks.
You still seem to think that non-label studios inevitably have to produce garbage.
It just isn't true. Nobody is talking about bands slapping something together in their garage, complete with the sound of traffic driving by.
But no matter what the labels would like to claim, it doesn't cost millions of dollars to build and operate a good studio. $30,000-50,000 (well within the cost of a home improvement loan) is enough to design and build a kick-ass studio. And $5,000-10,000 is enough to hire a competent engineer (but without a billion-dollar reputation) for the few days needed to do the final recording/mixing of an album. There is no need for an expensive engineer while you're rehearsing.
There are also plenty of independent studios that you can rent time (and even an engineer) from, if you don't have the money to build one in your own home. And again, you don't need an expensive studio for rehearsals.
The results of this kind of production can be every bit as good as what a studio puts out, and it doesn't leave the band massively in debt and without any rights to their own compositions.
I've purchased many such albums, and the production quality is every bit as good as what the major labels put out.
Yes, nobody is going to pay full price for an album that was slapped together in someone's bedroom, but if you think the only possible alternative is a label-sponsored studio that costs millions of dollars to operate, you're fooling yourself.
You're absolutely right, Im sorry I failed to clarify again. Believe me, I know independents can produce music just as well as the big-timers (that's how I started out). I am simply referring to the massive ammount of my-space demo CDs that I've heard that DO sound like, well, not so hot. And sometimes it's not even because of production quality, but people can be bothered to use even decent sounding drum samples, or more realistic virtual instruments. There's a lot of casio keyboard demo-type stuff, and I'm wondering if it's becoming a new style...