Courtney Does the Math

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Nonconformist Geek
Courtney Love is not very high on my list of favorite people. But if there's anybody who would know anything about the way the big labels treat their artists, it'd definately be her [wikipedia.org]. Incidentally, she wrote up an interesting article [salon.com] about that very thing. Here's a choice cut to get you interested:

"Today I want to talk about piracy and music. What is piracy? Piracy is the act of stealing an artist's work without any intention of paying for it. I'm not talking about Napster-type software. I'm talking about major label recording contracts. ... So [in our example, the record label's] profit is $6.6 million; the band may as well be working at a 7-Eleven."

It is a bit of a long article, but worth the read if you care anything about music (not necessarily about Courtney). I felt this was worth posting amidst the music industry's recent claims that they needed to up music prices "for the benefit of the artist". I hope this puts things in perspective.

-AT
 
The record companies are just screwing customers and by that article they screw the band aswell. And they blame p2p downloaders for it.
 
I read that other than when cds came out record sales are on an all time high.
 
The point she's making in the article is that the musician is screwed by the record labels, not by fans downloading tunes from P2P. In fact, she states that P2P networks like Napster could be a huge boon for musicians.

To be honest, I don't download music from P2P networks or buy them from iTunes. The majority of music I buy is on small, independant labels like Magnatune or Hellcat Records. If I do want some music from a slightly more mainstream artist like Miles Davis or Dave Brubeck, I buy it from AllOfMP3.com for about $1.50 an album. Knowing that the big companies are the only ones benefiting from mainstream album sales, I simply avoid that venue altogether. I'm not trying to tell anybody else what to do, but I stand by my convictions and I encourage you to do the same. Vote with your actions and your pocketbooks, change things for the better -- not just the music industry, but everything. :)

-AT
 
I only download music legally as in not paying for it but downloading it off the 'net when the original disc is broken (it happens when my cousin visits). Not gonna pay to get the album again, unless it's Slipknot, then I don't mind replacing the album.

Then again, Slipknot is about the only music I buy anyway, I pretty much have everything I need.
 
i prefer to buy the CD, people I know download music but i think if you like their music, buy the damn CD...with places in the UK selling them so cheap there's less to complain about, supermarkets sell them whn they come out at like £9.99 which is awesome, wait a few weeks and they come down even more, music stores have massive sales and you can often pick up CD's for less than a fiver...
 
Personally, I don't buy the CD so much as the music, so I don't care if it's digital format or redbook audio. The cover art is nice to have, but that's not really a problem either. For instance, I recently bought Kaya Project in VBR MP3 format, and the download included all of the cover art in high-quality JPEGs. Works for me.
 
I don't have any specific music preference, i like to get songs i hear on TV which i find good. Thats where most of my music comes from. so buying CDs isn't a thing for me. Still £10 is high just for music.
 
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