Universal Music CEO: iPod owners are thieves

has some truth to it. I know lots of people who religously collect records, buy cd's, and pay for their music.

However, there are way more people out there that fire up limewire and download ....

 

Looks like Miami got the short end of the draw.

 

What a freakin scam.


Great interview with Pink Floyd manager Peter Jenner explaining the real situation.

May not be safe for work due to language.

 

i try to walk the line. i download my share of music, but i also make a conscious effort to purchase a couple cd's a month. if im buying cd's though, i usually buy indie label or local stuff rather than major labels. they need the $$$ more.

 

Well.... I don't have an iPod, but my computer plays music, and I can pretty well guarantee that anyone who has an iPod also has a computer to which they download music. Therefore, shouldn't Universal Music et al get money for every computer sold?

And since I don't have an iPod, I tend to burn the music I download to a blank CD. Shouldn't Universal Music et al get money for every blank CD sold?

Granted, I only download legally, but that distinction isn't being made by the Universal Music guy, so I guess that part doesn't matter.

 

I think there is a royalty of some sort paid out on all blank CD's sold as "Audio CD's".

 

I will be so glad when the industry finally implodes in upon itself. What a waste.

Interestingly enough, the Barenaked Ladies probably are using the new model that most artists will go to eventually. They have a management company that handles everything for them. BL records and pays for making their own music. They pay for the cost of recording, mastering, artwork...you name it.

The management company negotiates on their behalf for distribution, performances, television show tie-ins (songs on the OC, etc), commercials, merchandising, etc. and takes an across-the-board 10 or 15 percent cut of everything. They don't make money unless the artist makes money.

Since you can make a really good record for under $20k now, financing yourself is really just a business matter. And losing 10 percent of everything to a management company is a LOT better than getting 1 percent of your sales with a label and then being responsible for everything else on your own - performance, merchandise, etc.

The RIAA is antiquated and just waiting for the next big thing to come along before it fades into obscurity.

 

Amen to that. It will be sweet justice when the old-school music model goes the way of the milkman.

 

Not in the United States, but in many other countries, this is often the case.

Still stupid.

 

I didn't realize they were doing that now. I noticed their newest album didn't have a major label logo on it, but I didn't know what that was all about.

I just saw BNL this past weekend in Austin, by the way.

 

How was the show? I really wanted to go. Saw them back in 1998, and they were awesome!

Back to the topic: to call an MP3 player a repository for stolen music (and, by extension, the owner of the player a thief) is questionable logic at best. It much the same as calling all gun owners bank robbers, since bank robbers usually use guns.

It's long past time for the record industry to rethink their business model. Insulting your customer base is not a brilliant marketing strategy.

 

I recall that Master P made most of his money
because he took a Distribution Deal rather than the ordinary deal

Rocket River

 

Wow, great post.

 

I have about 40 gigs so far of music on my I-Pod or compter. None of it is stolen.

I have bought the downloads for about half of it, or the other half is from my wife and my CD collection uploaded.

 

if they stopped charging 20 bucks for a CD maybe this wouldn't have happend.

 

The list is endless:

Charging more for a CD than a cassette even though the cost is less for them.
Pushing artists with > 65 mins of material to release double albums, and getting nasty if they refuse (Fionna Apple)
Flooding the market with albums made up of one single (not released separatedly) and 10 tracks of filler (Afroman, Len)
Suppressing creativity in favor of "a sound they want" (ie, copycat whoever just hit big)
Payola, destroying radio and shoving horrible phonies like Ashlee Simpson down the world's throat
Gunning after customers rather than trying to improve the product - biggest example being the heinous Sony rootkit BS.

I download legally, and quit the Napster life once a fair alternative to CDs appeared. I refuse to pay $14 just to roll the dice that I'll like more than 2 or 3 songs on the album. In the 90s, the RI refused to provide that option, so I went with Napster. Once iTunes and the such came about, no more need. At this point, I'm only purchasing discs from a very select handful of artists (about 2 or 3 albums a year).

Evan

 

It was very cold, but also very good. It was my third time to see them. My wife is a huge fan (as am I, though I'm not quite as big a fan as she is), so we go every time they get anywhere nearby.

I was a little disappointed to discover that the Backyard is now surrounded by a very large shopping center, though.

That sounds like me, too. Of course, even when I buy a full album, I'll often get it on iTunes and pay $10 rather than $14 or more.