You Cannot Hear It But Come And Buy It ?

[GhostShip]

This recent article discusses the common sense point of at least letting people see and hear a product/artist before they make a purchase, something the greedy Cartel of fat cats seemed to have overlooked.

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=114&sid=647478

In an attempt to quash that thriving underground music community, the federation and the Recording Industry Association of America have filed 19,000 lawsuits worldwide against peer-to-peer file sharers around the world over the last two years.

All of which belies that more people than ever are listening to music. Isn't that the point? Music needs to be heard before it can be sold, as Damian Kulash of the Chicago band OK Go wrote in a recent New York Times opinion piece: "I certainly don't encourage people to pirate our music. ... But before a million people can buy our record, a million people have to hear our music and like it enough to go looking for it. That won't happen without a lot of people playing us for their friends, which, in turn, won't happen without a fair amount of file sharing."

It's an attitude reflected in a recent Pew Research Center survey. Half the artists surveyed believe that sharing unauthorized files should be illegal, but only 15 percent held individual users responsible. Nearly 90 percent said they promote, advertise or display their music online, and 69 percent sell their music online.

Though sales of conventional CDs were down, business boomed on the Internet. Sanctioned digital album sales have skyrocketed 214 percent so far this year over 2004, and digital song sales are up 154 percent. Download-friendly videos and ring tones also have become new revenue streams for the music industry. Yet the industry comes out of 2005 further tainted as an inept $12 billion-a-year giant, more concerned with reining in consumers rather than exploiting advances in technology that have made the trading of music files accessible to tens of millions of consumers a month.

The facts are simple the lawyers and luddites that run theses corporations are wholly greed based and would even try to sue the pope it they though he had a download they hadnt made excessive profits from, the artist may make a few cents out of a dollar but even that is only after the industry have taken there "expenses"  :roll:

[Lysander]

I don't think that the figures of how online business is booming are very fair. CDs have been around for 20 years, internet distribution has only been around for five. At most. It's a very evolving medium still so I wouldn't look at those figures too closely.

[GhostShip]

Fair ..lol  

I often see bad statistics from the Cartels publicity machine and we all know folks who have those annoying cell phone ringtones and those cost a lot more than licensed digital downloads.

The Cartels announced record profits themselves last year, yes Cd sales are down but with folks being able to purchase the music online that would be the case.
Of course If I was them that wouldnt sound good to the small record stores so I would blame the P2P users for helping close them down and tell them some sob story that is not backed up by facts.

[logger]

I've been watching the industy for a awile and a few artists are putting online some of their work. The second they sign a contract BOOM  they are forced to stop.
 Now I read a lot of scfi and the book pubishers have started to see the light
sort of  http://www.baen.com/library/ is one they have stories by their authers online as well as books by said authers for sale.
 If the music industry would take that line and use it as an inticement  you would see sales of new work climb.  I think most artists would be glad to put old  work up to bring them back in the spot light.
  sad but true once an artist signs he's work no longer belongs to him even after death the recording industry mantains the rights and reap all the profit.
 lol wal I have raged and ranted enough for now.
                                                     regards  logger