Music Industry Condemns Artist Giving Away Own Music

I can't imagine why this industry is failing...

Published on June 29, 2007 By greywar In Current Events

Record labels think pirating music is theft.

Record labels also seem to think that giving away music you made is also theft since they don't get a cut.

Just look at the latest kerfuffle over Prince allowing a newspaper to give away his new CD:

"The Entertainment Retailers Association said the giveaway "beggars belief". "It would be an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career," ERA co-chairman Paul Quirk told a music conference. "It would be yet another example of the damaging covermount culture which is destroying any perception of value around recorded music. (emphasis mine -GW)"

How dare Prince give away music he wrote, composed, performed, recorded, and produced by himself! The nerve of some people doing what they like with things they made themselves. Next thing you know the proles won't want to pay $19.99 for a CD with only 2 tracks they like on it and will go to that iTunes monstrosity where they can just get the 2 tracks for $1.98!

Note that insulting the fans with huge a CD price markup would be perfectly fine with them but don't insult the record stores. The music isn't for fans you see, it is only to support middle-men. Also note the phrase towards the end about perception of value. The music industry held a monopoly on the distribution of music for decades and is truly resentful that their artificial price structure is now biting them in the ass. (the same model is currently used to limit availability of diamonds)

"HMV chief executive Simon Fox said: "I think it would be absolutely nuts. I can't believe the music industry would do it to itself. I simply can't believe it would happen; it would be absolute madness."

Note again that the fans have no place in the music industry's picture or music unless they are meekly opening their wallets and letting folks like Mr. Fox take arbitrary amounts of cash.

Quotes from the Guardian

Music fans tend to be idealists and lovers of art. Is it any wonder that an industry displaying this sort of base disregard would drive them to other sources legal or otherwise?

Comments

ParaTed2k

on Jun 29, 2007

The recording instustry isn't keeping up with technology, but they want the law to protect them anyway. Like all industries that are born of technology, they have to move forward or go the way of the blacksmith.

Dr Guy

on Jun 29, 2007

Greed. Simple, pure Greed. And why I will not support the blood suckers.

SanChonino

on Jun 29, 2007

Heh. That's the record companies for you. That's why the last vestiges of hope for the recording industry are the little impresarios, of which there are very few.

Go Inside Out records. Keeping the world safe for kick-butt progressive metal.

Moderateman

on Jun 29, 2007

Y da noive oh dat man prinze, who do he tink he iz? sum kinda musik are tist anyways? Juss cause he wrote it, breathed life into it, scored it, don't mean he owns it!

wait. yes it does.

Gene Nash

on Jun 29, 2007

I wouldn't insult in the record companies over this one, as it's the record retailers who are making the real fuss.

What those retailers don't seem to get, among many other things, is that despite terming it so, the CD isn't really "free."

It's not free in that people have to pay for the paper to get it.

It's not free in that Prince probably got paid a train load of money by the newspaper publisher.

The CDs Prince will give away at his concerts aren't free, because the audience will have to pay to get in.

What it is, is a brilliant publicity move. And anything that creates buzz around an artist, and puts more CDs in people's hands, is ultimately probably good news for those same head-in-the-sand retailers. "All ships rise on the tide," and that sort of rut.

"The Artist Formerly Known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores. And I say that to all the other artists who may be tempted to dally with the Mail on Sunday." (Way to keep up with your industry, you dumb nit. He hasn't been "formerly" for years. Oh well, anything to make a snide, self serving dig, huh. Hmmm... maybe I shouldn't talk there....

)

Short sighted foolishness. "No, we won't sell your albums. We don't want money from you. Neener, neener!"

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!

ParaTed2k

on Jun 30, 2007

Actually, Gene, it's the record label that gets the lions share from CDs sales. Yes, there is a markup at the retailers, and the artists gets from 25 to 50 cents per CD, there is a few cents royalties for the writers of lyric and music. However, it costs the label about $1 per unit.

The example I usually use is Britney Spears (although it's a bit dated now). She is worth $50 Million. She has sold around 50 million CDs. Considering her net worth also comes from promotions, concerts, and other investments outside of music, you can see that her CDs sales alone made a fortune for someone... but not for her.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!