From Jeff Waye Sent Thu, Jun 17th 1999, 21:03
From Jeff Waye Sent Thu, Jun 17th 1999, 21:03
To follow... >Not to argue or be a bitch, but >which is better: >1) Someone who never hears of a certain artist and thus never buys thier >CDs, or hears of but still doesn't >2) Someone who downloads a file of that artist's stuff, or even an album's >worth of files, and listens and likes but still doesn't buy. > >I'm not sure, but it's not like the artist is losing any sales, maybe. >Now i had an mp3 of Tobin's remix of Sakamoto on myhd for a long time, and >i dug it some, but i never went out to buy it. Then i saw it used for >cheap, so i purchased. Is that any better? > >Sharing mp3s on the net seems to me much less harmful than buying used CDs >and promos, but no one complains about that. Half of the CDs i buy are >used, and that's usually how i decide what to buy: "Can i find it cheap?" I >know that when i buy used CDs, the artist gets no more money than >she/he/they would otherwise, but i still feel no remorse for buying used >CDs. should i? And if so, why doesn't the RIAA crack down on that? A used CD was at least bought once and some money went to the artist and the label, and then sold once more, maybe a few more times at the most. A CD that is bought once and then put online for tons of people to burn is fucked. The used CD market is barely an issue, as the way I see it is most people who sell CDs turn around and use that money to buy more music. Sure there are promos that get sold, but that's more of an exception, plus promos that have been sent from a label are already written off. The point of all this is that we're dealing with artists who sell well but not loads, so everythings counts when it comes to them being able to get out their next record. Some other things in regards to digital downloading that I forgot to put in original post... As it stands now it might be cheaper to put all your music on line and sell for like $.99 a track or something. But soon enough as things get bigger with overhead, keeping up with the new software (in the 'real world' a new format comes up every few years, in the 'computer world'...), compitation, etc... all of a sudden you've become the same as a label with a distributor and you're right back to where you started (having to pay approx.$15 a CD)...except no one leaves their house anymore and you have some sub-standard downloaded version without all the artwork and cool packaging. With a few exceptions, there are 2 kinds of people in the music industry. People with talent who can make wicked tunes, and people with a business sense who know who to get the stuff out there. I can't make a decent tune, and most of our artists wouldn't know where to begin in regards to selling their own music (or they would have to spend so much time doing it, there music would start to suck)...so either way you're looking at having to build up a base of people to compete...so all of a sudden you're stuck running a label, not just popping some tunes on the internet (good if you have the time, but....) Okay, and my biggest problem.... The rise of online buying dictates you either have to have a credit card or spend a lot of time at the bank. This is still highly inconvenient for most people. So someones going to invent some sort of virtual cash debit card kind of thing eventually. Before you know it, paper money is obsolete and government and marketing groups know absolutly everything you do know because they can trace your every buying move. I'm not involved in anything sketchy, but I still don't want people to know that much about me. Watch as you get thousands of junk e-mails from companies similiar to the one you just spent money at. Ever see what happens to your home mail box after you buy a TV or some other hi-ticket item on your credit card. It's no coincidence. Alright, I'm done venting.... Jeff