G
Galvatron
Guest
Here's my take on the subject in general...
Someone said something to the effect that bands make too much money anyway, and it's not hurting them.
Only bands in the upper echelon of popularity actually enjoy the "rolling in dough" aspect of rockstardom.
Most signed bands make between $1.50-$1.75 per unit sold.
The bulk of the money goes to the record label. File swapping hurts primarily 'underground' bands.
I have experienced first hand what free-sharing of music does to an underground band. When I first become involved with the band I currently play for, we all made a relatively decent amount of money from our CD sales and touring, occassionally one of us might have to take a side job to make ends meet during down times. Since file sharing became a mainstream aspect of life for so many people our CD sales have dropped to a mere fraction of what they used to be. I could make more money working at McDonalds than I do off of the band at this point. What little money that comes from CD sales usually goes right back to the label to pay them for the advance they gave us to pay for the studio time to record said album. As such we are forced to tour to the point of burnout to generate any income.
It's not long before motivation to work on new albums is lost, with no promise of new music the fans lose interest, without fan interest there's low turnout at shows, with low turnout promotors stop booking you because they don't want to lose money on you.
So at this point you have to work a full time job like everyone else, which leaves minimal if any time to work on new music when those rare occasions of motivation hit you...and try explaining to a job that you need 2 months off of work to go tour.
I know too many bands first hand that have simply called it quits because their careers were ruined by file sharing.
I think a viable solution lies somewhere between creating the technology to make CD duplication more difficult to do, and lowering the price of CD's to a level that buying one actually seems appealing. I'll be the first one to admit that the price of a CD is outrageous, especially when you take into consideration how little the artist actually gets.
With infallible ability to prevent duplication, the labels would once again be able to command any price they wanted to for CD's (which is what they want).
With technology that just made it hard, but not impossible to do, combined with lower CD prices (im thinking 10 bucks and under) the general populace would probably be inclined to go buy albums again rather than just download it. The free element will always be there, but when it's easier to just plunk down a 10-spot and have it, I think bands in the underground genre will be able to sustain themselves again.
In closing, the CD sales that you deprive an artist of when you download something for free (that you havent already bought) is their livelihood. I'm sure nearly all of you would quit your jobs in a heartbeat if they stopped paying you.
Sure, it's probably not going to hurt the likes of Metallica or Puff Daddy much, but there are more bands in the underground that depend on royalites to pay the rent, and put gas in the car than there are Eddie Van Halens, who's grandchildren's grandchildren will never have to work a day in their lives...
:soapbox:
Someone said something to the effect that bands make too much money anyway, and it's not hurting them.
Only bands in the upper echelon of popularity actually enjoy the "rolling in dough" aspect of rockstardom.
Most signed bands make between $1.50-$1.75 per unit sold.
The bulk of the money goes to the record label. File swapping hurts primarily 'underground' bands.
I have experienced first hand what free-sharing of music does to an underground band. When I first become involved with the band I currently play for, we all made a relatively decent amount of money from our CD sales and touring, occassionally one of us might have to take a side job to make ends meet during down times. Since file sharing became a mainstream aspect of life for so many people our CD sales have dropped to a mere fraction of what they used to be. I could make more money working at McDonalds than I do off of the band at this point. What little money that comes from CD sales usually goes right back to the label to pay them for the advance they gave us to pay for the studio time to record said album. As such we are forced to tour to the point of burnout to generate any income.
It's not long before motivation to work on new albums is lost, with no promise of new music the fans lose interest, without fan interest there's low turnout at shows, with low turnout promotors stop booking you because they don't want to lose money on you.
So at this point you have to work a full time job like everyone else, which leaves minimal if any time to work on new music when those rare occasions of motivation hit you...and try explaining to a job that you need 2 months off of work to go tour.
I know too many bands first hand that have simply called it quits because their careers were ruined by file sharing.
I think a viable solution lies somewhere between creating the technology to make CD duplication more difficult to do, and lowering the price of CD's to a level that buying one actually seems appealing. I'll be the first one to admit that the price of a CD is outrageous, especially when you take into consideration how little the artist actually gets.
With infallible ability to prevent duplication, the labels would once again be able to command any price they wanted to for CD's (which is what they want).
With technology that just made it hard, but not impossible to do, combined with lower CD prices (im thinking 10 bucks and under) the general populace would probably be inclined to go buy albums again rather than just download it. The free element will always be there, but when it's easier to just plunk down a 10-spot and have it, I think bands in the underground genre will be able to sustain themselves again.
In closing, the CD sales that you deprive an artist of when you download something for free (that you havent already bought) is their livelihood. I'm sure nearly all of you would quit your jobs in a heartbeat if they stopped paying you.
Sure, it's probably not going to hurt the likes of Metallica or Puff Daddy much, but there are more bands in the underground that depend on royalites to pay the rent, and put gas in the car than there are Eddie Van Halens, who's grandchildren's grandchildren will never have to work a day in their lives...
:soapbox:
