Music Swapping...

[TheHolo.Net]

...soon to be a thing of the past?

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/01/22/downloading.music.ap/index.html

You decide. >_<

[Figrin D'an]

Reason 8,497 to hate the DMCA...

:grumble

[Sanis Prent]

:lol let them try then!

Lets see...at my estimate...thats about 75 million guilty households in America.

It'll be a cold day in Hell before I have to worry about this.

[TheHolo.Net]

We had a little discussion about music swapping and its effect on CD sales the other day at Meras, before this news story and it precedent being set, though its not over yet so the precedent may very well change.

I am of the opinion that music CDs are overpriced for the content they contain. I believe that music companies should embrace the new technologies that they claim are stealing their sales and use them to offer better and more enticing content on their CD's. If CDs were made using mp3s instead of CDA files they would have so much more room to add value to the product.

Wouldn't it be cool to be able to listen to interviews or maybe the actual meaning or maybe just the actual origins of some songs by the people responsible for making them? How about adding some video content to CDs?

I think there are lots of options that the music industry big wigs are overlooking in their single tracked drive to blame the advent of the mp3 and people sharing them on the internet, trying to stamp it all out.

For example, here in the Us DVDs are the big thing right now, as they are in many countries around the world. Well, here in the states a DVD costs little more than a CD does, yet has much more value IMO. Couldn't it be said that the popularity of DVDs and their cost efficiency is helping to drive more people away from buying music CDs and finding alternative means of acquiring the music they like? I mean tape cassettes have been around for years and years, allowing people the opportunity to "tape" songs off the radio, or off their friends. Why now is all the blame being squarely placed on the Internet and mp3s?

I think it all boils down to laziness and lack of creativity. These fat cats are too used to making gobs of money and are too blind to consider changing their strategy, when in fact that is most likely going to be their only possible saving grace.

That is my opinion of this situation as far as the music industry woes, though I will add this:

If the music industry manages to succeed in the mass invasion of privacy that this particular case could start, I highly doubt I will ever give them another penny of my hard earned money.

[Jamel Croko'yn]

All I gotta say is if the artist is getting mad because they are suppose to be making music that is to inflict life in the ears of those whom want to hear it, and not mad souly for the reason of getting money why should you care. Aren't you winning those awards, do we have a damn record deal worth millions of dollars.

If your complaining about money aspect of this, your not a real artist, and sinceu I'm an artist myself I find it idiotic to state that to your fans.

"Dont do that, give me my money okay!"

Thats just.....that's just idiotic....man

[Sanis Prent]

Jamel, I try to read what you say when you post, but it makes no sense.

[Live Wire]

Will Smith said it best "I'll worry when people stop downloading my songs"

Thats the bottom line. Besides the artists dont make anything from cd sales!!! They get next to nothing. Its the recording companies making millions and the artists get nothing. thats why so many artists form their own companies. If you want to support the artist for real go to their concert! thats where they get the money from!!! Its not from cd sales like the recording companies want you to believe. they come out and say you're taking money away from struggling artists and thats a load of crap!!! The fat cats make the money!!! Stop buying cd's and go to concerts!!


to respond to what was said...the only one getting million dollar record deals are people like michael jackson....the ones who are HUGE stars already. The normal people...the ones most of us listen to are making a few thousand! they dont make a huge profit from record deals. By the time managers get their cut and they're charged for everything its not a lot. Again its the concerts and tours where artists get the money. thats why a lot of artists arent up in arms over the mp3 downloading. they know their not the ones losing money its the greedy corporate weasels who dont deserve their fat paychecks to begin with!

[Sanis Prent]

Ugh...not another "exclude the middleman" spiel. :rolleyes.

The recording companies are a necessary distribution channel...however currently inefficient per dollar as they might be. Cutting out recording companies won't make it impossible for bands to be heard, but it'll make it close. With prudence, they'll add value to their product. When they do, I'll buy it. But don't be fooled into automatically excluding the middleman...because they're indirectly the ones to put people in these concerts.

[Live Wire]

Im not saying exclude the middleman! Im just saying if they want to use the artists as their supposed reason for saying music swapping is wrong then they should give the artists more money. Its wrong to use them like that when they essentially rip them off.

Besides they are charging too much for cd's. They've always charged too much for cds...when you look at how much it costs to produce them....oh its crazy!!!

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by Sanis Prent
It'll be a cold day in Hell before I have to worry about this.

Oh, I agree... it's just another snippet of evidence to demonstrate the crapassiness of the DMCA, that's all.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Using... the DMCA.

.....

Great. Juuuust great. How nasty and underhand that is. And when the Aussie version comes in, we'll get the same thing too.

[Oriadin]

Im of the opinion the downloading MP3s lead people into buying MORE music. Singles are a waste of money in my opinion. They cost about half the price of an album and you get one song plus a remix or something. Well great. I tend to find that people will download one or two songs from an album and say, I quite like those, I'll go out and buy it.

Perhaps the music companies should take a look at how much they are selling things for, if the customer is getting value for money and they should definitely look at some of the s**t they are releasing to the public!

I agree very much with what Mr SWFans has said. DVD's are very popular because your getting terrific value for money. The quality of picture plus interviews and documenteries giving you more info into the making of the film. The music industry needs to take a long hard look at itself and move with the times.

[Live Wire]

I agree Oriadin. I've bought cd's that I would not have bought without listening to the whole thing first. Im simply not willing to risk $20 on a cd Im not sure I'll like. And if I download it and I dont like it I wont buy it anyway...they havent lost money from me. But if I like something good enough I buy it...and like many people I never buy singles...they're a waste of money.


I don't know if many have heared about the lawsuit filed but heres a link to the website.

http://www.musiccdsettlement.com/english/default.htm

the charges say that the companies named illegally raised music cd prices. Its kind of interesting.

[ReaperFett]

Depends on the band Ori. Oasis would give you 4 different songs per single. Indeed, their B-Sides are so good there was a whole album of them.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Most of the music I've downloaded, you cant get in a store anymore. Or it's one song out of an albumn of 10 songs that are crap. I am not going to buy a CD for just one song!

But, I will buy when most of the albumn is good. I've bought 5 CD's in the last year that begun from getting hooked by MP3 trading. It was jsut I was able to evaluate the whole albumn and not just one or two played radio songs. Even Lifehouse, a band I personally love, I evaluated before purchase. And simply put, those CD's are in the stacker and played regularly.

Now OTOH, even with a ADSL connection that blazes or access to mega bandwidth last year in my former office, only got one movie bootleg and tht was FOTR. Downloading TTT when I have bandwidth to spare again next month, but I did see FOTR 6 times in theatres, bought both DVD sets... so there was no loss there. However I have also gotten near 50 DVD's and only regretted one purchase. DVD's are great value and worth the dollar spend. CD music, mostly, is not. Mainly beacuse most albumn only have one or two good songs and the rest filler. Why would you pay 30 AUD for that? DVD's are nearly price parity in Aust, average first release DVD is about 30 AUD, maybe a touch more. CD music is about 20 AUD.

Gee, which one is worth the buy then?Esp when in if you shop around, DVD's and CD's can be got for exactly the same price?

[Marcus Telcontar]

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/dirge.html

Interesting article.