Here in Quebec, the prevailing attitude toward the illegal downloading of music is comical. There is no contrition whatsoever. But. There is strong admonition to avoid downloading any Quebec artist's songs. That's right, nobody bats an eye if you download the entire Madonna collection, but don't admit to downloading Celine or you're a traitor.
The fact of the matter is that the way music is created, sold and distributed is changing. Technology has ushered in an ulitmatum to the music industry that says, "Change your business model!"
I am only helping nudge along this process if I download music. You see, all my life, I have had to buy albums, cassettes and discs composed of songs I did not choose. Invariably, there are tunes I have no affinity for, yet I had to pay for them anyway. (Maybe two albums in my life I have liked in entirety. Carole King's Tapestry was one.)
Now we have the itunes method so I can assemble my "disc" as I see fit. But for $1 a song, they are dreaming! That's the same price as if you buy a regular disc of 15 or so tunes. But there is no distribution cost, production and packaging costs, no music store overhead to support. When you consider that, you understand that you are being reamed with a capital R.
I told Spouse the other day, "All they need to do is sell it for a dime apiece, and I suspect more people would be willing to respect copyright law. Because you know that the artists get less than a dime a song anyway, it's all the "middlemen" who divvy up the rest of that pie.
With the internet, we can now make those middlemen obsolete and truly let the market decide. Let the artists promote their own music, let word of mouth spread, and let's even out the playing field for talent.
Expedia killed travel agencies and I can't wait for the death of music labels.
12 comments:
I don't know. I like the middleman - because that person will still exist on the web. There still need to be marketers, etc., in order to promote an artist. I don't know enough about music labels, but I would hate to see the end of publishing houses and just a crush of self-publishing.
I haven't got a pc of my own so i've never got into the downloading game. I see your point though. We're ripped over here in the UK, albums have always been expensive , at present on average at a price of £13.99 which is half way to buying a decent pair of trousers or posh top for me., but prices are coming down for DVD's.
I agree about Tapestry, tis a great album. I've ecclectic tastes.
Ps; How's the knitting coming on? a mate of mine is thinking of getting into it ;-)
I stopped hijacking the music when I was finding that almost every song I got was terrible sound quality. The problem with peer to peer netoworks is that you are the the mercy of someone else to deliver to you a quality sounding track. I think iTunes is worth the price and that its done quite a bit to change the music industry already. I still look forward to the sea change you predict though.
I buy the CDs of the artists that I LOVE but the ones I just like, I download. I have a thing about liner notes...I just love them! I agree the industry is changing, it will be nice to see the artists get the money they deserve instead of parasites living off the fatted calf. (I need coffee...)
My last record contract (and it was virtually the industry standard) went like this for a CD:
10% for me/my group.
10% as an allowance compensating for "lost/damaged/returned product" - in other words, covering HMV's refund policy.
50% for Record Distribution Company (warner, sony, etc).
30% for the business selling the disc (hmv, musicworld, etc).
I download a lot of music. And if I could get the cash to them, I'd happily send a cheque to each artist for their share. Hell, I'd double it. But considering ALL recording costs are recouped from the artists' share (after being fronted by the label), the labels make all their money essentially for loansharking. I have no sympathy for them whatsoever.
Personally, I like the idea of wholesale web distribution that deals directly with the artist being the mainstream. The website takes a commission on each sale for itself, with appropriate surcharges for whatever level of promotion THE ARTIST decides they want, with the rest of the money going directly to the artist. Copyright would remain the property of the artist, and not in the hands of a record label. That way, the artist has complete control over cost, profits, promotion, and most importantly, the music.
I see your point, Tornwordo - and I basically agree with you. But can I put in a plug for the soon-to-be-obsolete album?
I'm not a musician -- have to bow to St. D. on this topic, as on so many others -- but don't artists generally put together an album very carefully, so as to create a complete package of songs? (I realize I might well be wrong and/or completely naive on this point.)
If we can customize to our heart's content, isn't there a risk of missing - or limiting - the artist's vision: a bit like snipping out Mona Lisa's smile and hands, because they're the "classic" bits, but ignoring the robes and background that set them off in the first place.
Plus, I don't know about anyone else, but I often find songs grow on me once I've listened to them a few (or more) times. It's helped expand what I consider "good music," and made me a bit less quick to judge what's "me" and "not me." If we always just pick-and-choose individual songs that are already to our liking, are we perhaps limiting our musical experiences? And is that necessarily a good -- or bad -- thing?
Just some food for thought.
ink.
P.S. - You KNIT??? That's so cool! For how long? I've had needles in my hands pretty much non-stop since I was 12.
Ink's right about most artists putting a cohesive group of songs together carefully to create a complete package. At least every group I know of does that, and puts a lot of thought into it.
So be sure to download the entire album!
:)
Ink, not only does Tornwordo knit, he models his creations so well [see the January archives]
To hell with recorded media, go and listen to a live performance. Compare a live performance to downloading music. The download is not much of an experience, you might wonder why its taking so long or better yet get distracted while your downloading and completely forget that you were downloading music to begin with. If that is the case then it may not be as important to you as you first may have thought it to be. Then sticking those earphones into your ears, please let there be enough room in my ear for my earphones and Bluetooth cell phone. On the other hand, a live performance is an experience you can taste, smell, listen to and maybe, just maybe share with another human being.
I weigh the option of rotting/deteriorating CDs against my expectation that my PC will one day crash and take with it all of my mp3 files, and I'm left favouring CDs. Slightly.
I'm all for punishing the music execs that decided that Nickelback and the Pussycat Dolls should have careers. Die, execs! Die!
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