[lonewolfny42]

AHH!  Browser crashed mid-post and I don't feel motivated to rewrite.  So I'm posting an example of how to do this sort of thing proper:

http://gigaom.com/2012/01/06/lee-louis-ck-marketing/

I like how he split up the profits....

https://buy.louisck.net/news

[macrojack]

Dr. Thompson had a way with words, didn't he? While somewhat understated, his comment captures the general ethical tendencies and motivational impetus of those who direct the recording industry.

Thanks, totoro, for that timely and astute contribution.

Everything has a life expectancy. Including us. If we abuse ourselves and cram a lifetime of living into 12 years, we will die young. By the same token, if we over-utilize the goose who lays the golden eggs, we will shorten the goose's lifespan and stop its productivity. Greed manifests itself sometimes by accelerating extraction to a point of collapse. The music controllers shot themselves in the foot by exercising too much control and by pushing too hard for accelerated profits. I think they made another mistake by gaining sufficient control to feel impervious to outside influence. Many of the observations in this thread illustrate the vulnerabilities that arrogance precipitated.

[ctviggen]

Another source of revenue for artists is ASCAP.  That'll be way more than physical CD sales.

I still think CDs need to come down in price.  An expensive CD should be $10, not $20. 

[macrojack]

Good point about CD prices. I realized many years ago that the actual disc couldn't be adding anything to the cost because AOL was sending me free unsolicited CDs every 45 minutes every day trying to get me to subscribe to their service. These things had production cost and recorded content so the only other costs a record company could be looking at were the meager % the artists get and whatever advertising they chose to do.

I think it is also necessary to consider the damage done by Clear Channel. They hold a virtual monopoly on FM broadcasting and they exercise central control over the playlists nationwide. This forces a movement toward the least common denominator. Pop prevails to the exclusion of creative new artists you might prefer to hear. The program is not devised to present the best program possible. They seek to provide the best selling program possible. Creativity is not something that figures prominently in bean counter decisions.

This, in turn, influences what the recording industry chooses to produce because, traditionally, radio has been their best means of free advertising. The more airplay they get, the more exposure they enjoy, and the more product they sell.

Real artists are restricted to public radio where the DJ actually has the right to play what they like and to live performances on the coffee house circuit and the occasional festival. Some of them have the savvy to distribute themselves through the internet. Record companies, of course, have a huge stake in preventing that end run. Hence, their desire to impose SOPA.

They don't want anybody running away from the plantation.

[nathanm]

I like how he split up the profits....

https://buy.louisck.net/news

Wow, really cool, thanks for the link Lonewolf!  (Damn, can you imagine logging into your PayPal account and seeing THAT number?  HA!  Blows my mind.)  THAT is how you succeed in the marketplace; make something people really want (the hardest part!) and offer it to people with kindness rather than threats and intimidation. (the easy part; but unfortunately difficult to see!)  The sooner we learn this fundamental lesson the better. 

Everybody is "greedy", there's nothing wrong with greed, we all want something.  The only problem is in the manner in which we get the things we want.  Do we do it with a handshake or with fisticuffs?  The RIAA has chosen the fist whereas Louis has chosen the handshake.  When you go with the handshake you can become truly rich,  but if you go with the fist, the gun, the law, the courts, the police, the politician you will only get blood money.

[Rclark]

No they aren't. Those who steal music aren't the kind who would buy large volumes and therefore don't account for much sales.

That is utter bull•••• that people like you say to make you feel entitled to keep rippiing people off.

Utter bull••••

You and all the other innocent babes are stealing and ruining everything, period.

[doug s.]

That is utter bull•••• that people like you say to make you feel entitled to keep rippiing people off.

Utter bull••••

You and all the other innocent babes are stealing and ruining everything, period.

with all due respect, while not condoning stealing, as has been discussed prewiously, stealing is NOT what is ruining anything, let alone everything.  the fact is that the recording industry has been using "music stealing" as a red herring for over 40 years, to try to hold on to their lock on the recorded music biz. 

rclark, read entire the thread,  (or re-read, if you have already been thru it once), for the salient points as to why it is not stealing that is driving the big recording industry conglomerates into the ground, but other factors...

ymmv,

doug s.

[Rclark]

I gotcha, but it's a huge problem, because even if the music industry rights itself and fixes their internal problems with bands, media, and pricing, you still have millions of people keeping everything expensive for the rest of us, conditioned to steal.

[Wayner]

stealing is NOT what is ruining anything

doug s.

That is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting things, I've ever read here at AC.

[doug s.]

I gotcha, but it's a huge problem, because even if the music industry rights itself and fixes their internal problems with bands, media, and pricing, you still have millions of people keeping everything expensive for the rest of us, conditioned to steal.

the music industry - by this i mean the old school monopolistic big recording companies - can't fix itself, because there's a new paradigm shift.  it's an anachronism, much in the same way brick-n-mortar audio stores, the print media, etc., are anachronisms.  the web has changed everything regarding traditional business models...

and, folks are not conditioned to steal, tho they are conditioned to be less concerned about copying music when they're otherwise getting ripped off.  and, the fact is - same as it ever was - that copying music means more exposure then there otherwise would be, which encourages sales.  it's yust that, for the big record companies - they're being cut out more and more. 

as i said before - re-read thru this thread, to see what happens when smaller entertainers take control of things by themselves - much less "stealing" going on, then.  lower prices, happier entertainers, happier fans...

now, if the stranglehold on the concert circuit can similarly be broken...  i believe it can, it will simply take a little longer, as more entertainers become more self sufficient w/o that big "record deal", it will start to permeate the industry, the folks like ticket master will start to lose control as well.    i really would like to see the fm radio monopoly broken; when the record companies can no longer dictate what a "hit" is, commercial fm stations can start to regain some modicum of independence.  one can always dream...

doug s.

[doug s.]

That is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting things, I've ever read here at AC.

wayner, you need to read more!   

i am referring to what is going on in the music biz, not other areas of society.  yust in case you were wondering.

the music moguls have been bitching about this "pirating of music" for over 40 years, and as i said before, i believe it is a red herring.  they will (and always have), say anything to try to retain their monopoly on what gets played on commercial airwaves.  hopefully, the internet will finally end the madness.  i, for one, am tired of the dearth of quality and wariety in music on commercial fm.  fm radio has sucked, thanks to this small group of people who decide what is a hit, for at least 30 years...

doug s.

[weitrhino]

This link may be getting a bit dated, but Courtney Love lays it all out there.  The "Industry" is its own worst enemy.

http://www.salon.com/2000/06/14/love_7/

[doug s.]

This link may be getting a bit dated, but Courtney Love lays it all out there.  The "Industry" is its own worst enemy.

http://www.salon.com/2000/06/14/love_7/

this was a wery interesting article, for sure.  definitely puts into perspective who is actually ripping off who...

doug s.

[JRace]

I gotcha, but it's a huge problem, because even if the music industry rights itself and fixes their internal problems with bands, media, and pricing, you still have millions of people keeping everything expensive for the rest of us, conditioned to steal.

What? It has never been cheeper to purchase music than its now.
And that is after decades of theft by millions of people.

If its only about the profits its no longer about the music.
If its not about the music whats the point?

[midfi]

Wow! out of all of the topics I read here and in other Audio boards this one is gripping.  We got it all, the pessimist's and the optimist's and both sides have valid points.  The music industry is as simple as any other business who's end goal is to make a huge profit. To find the truth all you do is follow the money, not from where it starts but where it ends and there will lie the truth.  Many here as I see already know the "end" or they're in the neighborhood anyway.