Want to Give the RIAA a Strong Message?

[Dulanic]

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/

Pretty good article IMO

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: Dulanic
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/

Pretty good article IMO

 

[CocaCola5]

You can stop being an ass anytime you wish. First, unlike commercial music, the nation, at large, has an interest in maintaining the public transportation infrastructure, even at a loss. There are simply too many other benefits from keeping it afloat. Second, by your reasoning, with or without government support, you seem to think that the pilots, cabin attendants, ticket vendors, tower controllers, and everyone else involved in providing air transport, should donate their time to getting you from point A to point B without being paid. That's pure bullsh8!

Weren't purposely trying but maybe its because i make too much sense sometimes. As to the government supporting the airlines, there were something called deregulation back in the late 70's that ended the kinds of controls you talked about.

As to the last point, they ARE getting paid, a fair market reached price, if they chose not to offer the service they can refuse to(though others can take their place).

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Dulanic
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/

Pretty good article IMO

Wow, excellent read, also IMHO.

 

[rubix]

harvey: nothing you are anyone else says matters that is against mp3. you need to understand something: the people have spoken.

they want mp3s for free or little cost and they want to download them.

this is not a debate or an argument. this is an actual fact and it is not going to change. either the riaa adjusts itself to deal with this fact or they die. that is all. no debating. right and wrong doesn't matter either. it's over.

 

[dukdukgoos]

The recording industry has been illegally ripping off consumers and more importantly MUSICIANS for decades. It's one of the most corrupt business models on earth...and keeps getting worse. The recording industry is being investigated on charges on price-fixing and "Payola" to radio stations. It's time for them to go away.

My dream is to support artists without supporting the record companies that exploit them. We can do this by giving money DIRECTLY to the artists we love, while not buying any CDs. An artist is LUCKY if they make $1 off a $18 CD. Rather than buy the CD for $18, download it and send the band a couple of bucks...the band does better...you do better...and the record companies eat $hit and die!

Check out some of Salon's coverage of the recording industry.

Salon.com

DON'T BUY CD'S!!!

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: apoppin
We have see the proliferation of threads on the strong arm tactics of the Recording Industry of America.

I think this deserves it's own thread . . . there is a simple solution: STOP BUYING NEW CDS. Organize a boycott with your friends and pass this idea along to other newsgroups.

There is only ONE way to hurt these greedy (um) "people" - that is by going after their sales/profits. However, don't forget to support the artists you like by attending their concerts.

I posted this to see if any one else agrees. It is open for discussion. 🙂

The other day I was looking at cds and I was going to buy some but then I remembered that those guys are a bunch of f*ckers so I didn't buy any. And I am on modem so I can't download sh*t. I guess I'd rather 'suffer' than support those bitches.

 

[fr]

But if I don't buy them, I won't get those limited edition picture labels only available on the first edition press 🙂

 

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by: Harvey
Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. 🙁

So many freaking crybabies pissing and moaning because they can't rip off their favorite artists. :|

Somebody paid to produce it. Somebody works their butt off to promote and distribute it. All those somebodies deserve to get paid for their work. Most important, Somebody created it. Do you think they should flip burgers all day, then rush home and jam in their garage just to entertain you?

If you like the music, support your favorite artists, and BUY IT! 😎

Did you know that record-labels have repeatedly been found to be involved in price-fixing with each other? Did you know that price of CD's have gone up for years now? Did you know that when Napster became popular, sales of CD's went up, and when Napster was closed, sales of CD's dropped? Did you know that you already pay money to RIAA when you buy blank CD-R'/RW's (to compensate for "pirated" music)? Did you know that the artists didn't receive any money from the mp3.com settlement?

EDIT: What I suggest that we do is this: Don't buy copy-protected CD's! When I buy a CD, I immediately rip it in to mp3 and listen to it on my computer. Much more convenient than flipping through CD's. And it's my legal right to do so. Copy-protection denies me my legal rights, so I'm boycotting those CD's. If we stop buying CD's altogether, RIAA will just blame it on piracy. But not buying copy-protected CD's, we tell them that copy-protection actually reduces sales.

 

[Siva]

I'm never buying a new CD again. I'll support my fav artists by going to their concerts (for the love of god Zwan needs to go on tour), I will not support the RIAA.

 

[Nefrodite]

well if people really cared they'd hammer the politicians into regulating the industry😛

thats the only legit way to do it.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Harvey
Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. 🙁

So many freaking crybabies pissing and moaning because they can't rip off their favorite artists. :|

Somebody paid to produce it. Somebody works their butt off to promote and distribute it. All those somebodies deserve to get paid for their work. Most important, Somebody created it. Do you think they should flip burgers all day, then rush home and jam in their garage just to entertain you?

If you like the music, support your favorite artists, and BUY IT! 😎

Learn the facts harvy by following my link in my sig. it's not what you think is right but how it is. The RIAA does'nt give a two shits about anything but perserving thier monopoly and to hell with artists and consumers.

Why napster and free sampleing helps all artists:

1.The major recording labels released only 2600 albums in 1999
2. Napster has signed up 17,000 new artists in the 2nd quarter of 2000
3. In 1999 music sales were up 11% not down
4. In the first quarter of 2000 music sales are up 8% over last year
5. 45% of Napster users buy more music as a result of hearing the music first
6. 95% of Napster Downloads are erased in a short period of time

 

[FoBoT]

i dont' buy new cd's

i only buy used cd's

 

[kt]

I have no problem not buying anymore CD's. Nothing out there is worth listening to anyway.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Nefrodite
well if people really cared they'd hammer the politicians into regulating the industry😛

thats the only legit way to do it.

The RIAA and Movie industry have already purchased the politicians.

A boycott is also a grassroots legitimate way to do things in a democracy. It's is a simple way to vote with your dollars.

Here is the entire text of how much a band actually makes from an album by Courtney Love (from that excellent link posted earlier). It makes an excellent read:

Courtney Love does the math
The controversial singer takes on record label profits, Napster and "sucka VCs."

Editor's note: This is an unedited transcript of Courtney Love's speech to the Digital Hollywood online entertainment conference, given in New York on May 16.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Courtney Love

June 14, 2000 | 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.

I want to start with a story about rock bands and record companies, and do some recording-contract math:

This story is about a bidding-war band that gets a huge deal with a 20 percent royalty rate and a million-dollar advance. (No bidding-war band ever got a 20 percent royalty, but whatever.) This is my "funny" math based on some reality and I just want to qualify it by saying I'm positive it's better math than what Edgar Bronfman Jr. [the president and CEO of Seagram, which owns Polygram] would provide.

What happens to that million dollars?

They spend half a million to record their album. That leaves the band with $500,000. They pay $100,000 to their manager for 20 percent commission. They pay $25,000 each to their lawyer and business manager.

That leaves $350,000 for the four band members to split. After $170,000 in taxes, there's $180,000 left. That comes out to $45,000 per person.

That's $45,000 to live on for a year until the record gets released.

The record is a big hit and sells a million copies. (How a bidding-war band sells a million copies of its debut record is another rant entirely, but it's based on any basic civics-class knowledge that any of us have about cartels. Put simply, the antitrust laws in this country are basically a joke, protecting us just enough to not have to re-name our park service the Phillip Morris National Park Service.)

So, this band releases two singles and makes two videos. The two videos cost a million dollars to make and 50 percent of the video production costs are recouped out of the band's royalties.

The band gets $200,000 in tour support, which is 100 percent recoupable.

The record company spends $300,000 on independent radio promotion. You have to pay independent promotion to get your song on the radio; independent promotion is a system where the record companies use middlemen so they can pretend not to know that radio stations -- the unified broadcast system -- are getting paid to play their records.

All of those independent promotion costs are charged to the band.

Since the original million-dollar advance is also recoupable, the band owes $2 million to the record company.

If all of the million records are sold at full price with no discounts or record clubs, the band earns $2 million in royalties, since their 20 percent royalty works out to $2 a record.

Two million dollars in royalties minus $2 million in recoupable expenses equals ... zero!

How much does the record company make?

They grossed $11 million.

It costs $500,000 to manufacture the CDs and they advanced the band $1 million. Plus there were $1 million in video costs, $300,000 in radio promotion and $200,000 in tour support.

The company also paid $750,000 in music publishing royalties.

They spent $2.2 million on marketing. That's mostly retail advertising, but marketing also pays for those huge posters of Marilyn Manson in Times Square and the street scouts who drive around in vans handing out black Korn T-shirts and backwards baseball caps. Not to mention trips to Scores and cash for tips for all and sundry.

Add it up and the record company has spent about $4.4 million.

So their profit is $6.6 million; the band may as well be working at a 7-Eleven.

So, Harvey - stop defending "your" industry. I am not suggesting stealing from this totally corrupt empire - just refusing to support them.