MP3's NOT THE DEVIL

[teabgs]

"Since every penny I earn depends on copyright protection, I'm all in favor of reasonable laws to do the job.

But there's something kind of sad about the recording industry's indecent passion to punish the "criminals" who are violating their rights. "



link


This guys got the right idea.

 

[Sol]

Record Industry more harmful to artists than the MP3

Some very valid points in that article. When someone from the record industry says "We lost X millions of dollars because of file sharing" they are at best making an educated guess and at worst stretching the truth to the limit. The fact is that even with file sharing and CD-R drives most people are still buying CDs, despite being told by consumer groups that we are getting ripped off (here in Australia at least).

The author of the article above makes a convincing argument that the record industry is more responsible for cheating their artists of their rightful income than any file-trader. The best way to support your favourite artists is not by buying their CDs but by attending their live performances.

 

[mactastic]

The record companies swear that it's making a serious inroad on sales, and they can prove it. How? By showing that their sales are way down in the past few years.

It couldn't possibly be because (a) most of us have already replaced all our old vinyl and cassettes, so all that windfall money is no longer flowing in, or (b) because the record companies have made some really lousy decisions as they tried to guess what we consumers would want to buy.

It couldn't possibly be that they've targeted all their marketing at precisely the market segment -- high school and college students -- who are most likely to be sharing MP3s over the internet.

Maybe if they started marketing more music that people my age would enjoy, they'd find that, lo and behold, there are customers who prefer to buy music the legal way!

So true. So much of the mass music market is aimed right at the very people who are most into music swapping. There is a lot of really good music out there that never gets played extensively. Of course it doesn't help that ClearChannel and Cumulus pretty much dominate the airwaves.

 

[stoid]

This guy has stated my feelings to the letter!

I hope that the RIAA wakes up, pulls it's head out of it's ass and starts making decisions that help anyone but their own power-hungry greed CEOs!

 

[Foucault]

I have never felt guilty downloading music. I have spent most of my live overpaying for CD's. If CD's ever reach a reasonable amount (say $10 a pop), I think most people would rather buy them. I also feel like the music industry is in a slump because music sucks right now. Who is the landmark band of today? there are too many no-talents and fabricated superstars out there. We need to go back to the roots of music, someone out there is playing in a club in front of 40 people right now that is ready to kick the music industry in the nuts.

 

[Sol]

No landmark bands today?!

Originally posted by Foucault
Who is the landmark band of today?

For me, right now the best band is Marilyn Manson. I saw them live last Saturday and it was the best concert I have ever been to.

Beck is also very special and so are Primal Scream, Cypress Hill, The Manic Street Preachers and too many others to mention.

I do not think that the music industry is not making as much money these days because there are no landmark bands/artists out there. They are losing money because they invest tens of millions of dollars in popular crap like Michael Jackson and Britney Spears, then suffer the consequences when their albums flop.