Posted on 08/26/2005 8:49:21 PM PDT by wagglebee
"I thought that downloading for profit was illegal, but sharing wasn't."
I have wondered about that myself. How can the government say that I cannot share something I have bought? I can understand how it would be wrong to make identical duplicates and sell them as if they were the real thing(counterfeit), but if I want to loan you my copy of one disk and borrow one of yours, where is the crime? I think the record companies are shooting themselves in the foot with their ancient business model. Better to sell me a song I want for a buck than to hold out for a twenty dollar crappy 'album' and lose the sale altogether. Bunch of greedy so-and-sos if you ask me.
Oh.... forever? really?
"Oh.... forever? really?"
Yup, forever.
Once I have purchased the music, it is mine to keep. That's what the Terms & Conditions of the sale are, and they are enforcable.
Now you have to read the fine print--you can play it on up to 5 computers at any given time, but if you want to drop one off the list you have to de-authorize that computer. If you give it away, or the computer dies, before you deauthorize, you are down to 4. This seems pretty reasonable to me.
Anyway, I keep backups of all my files, so I will never lose them & they never get broken like a physical CD.
Now you have to read the fine print--you can play it on up to 5 computers at any given time, but if you want to drop one off the list you have to de-authorize that computer. If you give it away, or the computer dies, before you deauthorize, you are down to 4.
#1) You can burn the song to a CD which creates a regular mp3 file with no restrictions.
#2) You can request Apple to deauthorize all computers on your account. You'll have to re-authorize the ones you still use, but you don't have to be limited if you give one away w/o deauthorizing.
Just for what it's worth.
Thats what I'm looking for.
I read this on Slashdot, and I'm not surprised.
The RIAA and the big labels are shooting themselves in the head, yet again. This is pure greed, nothing else, as usual. No mention if a bigger cut will go to the artist, is there? but then, the artist always gets the smallest cut of the pie, always have, always will. Artists generally get 3-4% of albums sales (if they were lucky and had good management who could negotiate) - the real money was always in touring and merchandise - but now the big labels are demanding percentages of THAT, too. (Clear Channel is essentially locking up the touring industry, and are threatening to go after Ticketmaster - watch your ticket prices SCREAM upwards)
I work in the industry, and what i'm seeing is bands fleeing to smaller, independant labels, and that's where Apple rules right now. They have artists on there that amaze me, it's very, very cool who's been signed up, from the "big" indies like SubPop, to "mediums" like Century Media and Nuclear Blast all the way down to Alternate Tentacles, Jello Biafra's label, or Henry Roolin's personal self-run label.
(As a side note, they FINALLY added some of the Zappa catalog, hopefully more to follow, and they just added some GREAT reissues from Rhino - stuff out of print for a long, long time)
The artists know that the labels are a waste of time, energy, and will just land you in debt you cannot ever hope to repay unless you chart a huge hit - and even then, maybe. EVERYTHING in the music industry at the big labels is recoupable. Everything. Get a gold album? You pay for the awards. Need a bigger limo? You pay for it. You want private chefs backstage, aromatherapy assistants and a piano in your dressing room? Sure! You pay for it. You also pay for all the accounting, the lawyers on retainer, the transportation costs, percentages go to the manager and the label on the GROSS.
They get you a 500,000 advance on merchandising, which gets a 15% sliced off the gross by your manager, your label, and maybe the A/R guy who signed you...but look, we only sold 350,000 on the tour. Oh well - you still have to pay the merch company that 150,000, and the interest clock is running.
All the labels are now are lending groups with terms that should be illegal. It's indentured servitude with a press agent, and they've broken many an artist's back financially or in the courts. They pump up an artist, fill them full of lies, blow endles smoke up their skirts, and have them sign on the dotted line on douments that would make the mafia blush.
(I watched a manager review a contract from a then major label. One of the clauses was, if any member quit, they could not perform AT ALL, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, for 4 years from the moment they quit - regardless of what band or venue. Most contracts have an NDA part, too. It's sooooooo filthy, what terms they expect people to agree to...) (The manager refused the contract, for many, many other reasons, the non-performance clause was just pointed out for the humor of it.)
The last two years have been brutal, all the major labels have merged or been bought out, up to 70% of rosters dropped in the moves, and established bands dropped because they did'nt make millions, only hundreds of thousands. You get ONE chance to hit the pot of gold - then you're dropped. Most of what does get released is crap, anyway, and they're not really signing anyone right now for the most part, unless you've established yourself in minor markets. Major labels do NOT stick their neck out anymore - someone has to pay for Mariah's and Micheal's and Brittney's hug advances, after all.
So, this attempt to hijack Apple is no surprise. Their attempts at star making have been failing, sales are down, so they yet again figure us all for chumps, and raise prices. These are the same guys that swore up and down and sideways and upside down that cd prices in the late 80's and early 90's were to subsidize the cd manufacturing tools, and they'd lower prices soon...but it never happened.
It'll change once a new thing starts up - the music industry is cyclical, and we're in the same doldrums as the early 80's, and the early 90's, and the 70's and the 60's, and the 50's...the industry is waiting for the new New Wave, the next Guns N' Roses, the next whatever - and then profits will blossom, all those music industry execs will be able to buy this year's BWM and new Gucci shoes, and all these stories of the RIAA coming after us will go away - just like after the PMRC foolishness and deception. The music industry ALWAYS cries poor in these times, and there's no institutional memory of cycles, because tenure there is shorter than the lifespan of the albums they release.
Hopefull Apple will fend this off. They revolutionized the industry, despite MASSIVE efforts to thwort them. EVERYONE called them crazy to get into this market with the iPod, and later the iTunes store. Even here, on Free Republic, I remember the general consensus was they were crazy!
And, I know from insiders, the labels HATED it, they FEARED it, and they still hold a grudge for being proved utterly wrong by an upstart computer company. There's NOTHING more egotistical than a music industry executive (remember, they came up with Madonna and Britney), except maybe a movie industry executive.
I've heard some interesting rumors about Apple becoming an actual label, too, but i don't know how truthful it is...and I know for a fact Apple is being VERY aggressive at locking up the indie market, and making it VERY easy to get your stuff on there. I've worked with several people who...well, let's just say, Apple gets rave reviews.
PS - screw Metallica. They won't put their albums on iTunes, because, and I quote, 'We don't sell songs, we sell ALBUMS." Metallica are corporate idiots, through and through, I have zero repect for them as musicians or businessmen. They led the "Napster BAD" charge, because demos of their leaked onto Napster, and they (Lars) threw a fit. Then their label waved a few stacks of shiny new 50s under their noses, and told them to "Play ball"...and they've sucked ever since.
I know downloading songs off Limewire is illegal, but I support the bands I love in the best way I can - I go to their shows, and buy a t-shirt, or an album at the show at the merch booth. I know there's a 99% chance my money will feed the band and crew that night, put gas in their buses tank, and eventually some will land in their bank accounts. Screw the RIAA and the greedy scumsucker lablels and their endless army of lawyers and accountants. They've done more to kill music in our culture than anything else combined - and all the while have pointed fingers at everything and everyone else - and now are going after their customers in court.
An album is a marketing tool to sell concert tickets, anyway. Go see the artists, and avoid Ticketmaster and ClearChannel if you can - they're ripping off the artists and destroying the industry with payolla and pay-to-play BS too. Buy a shirt and and an album. Go to their website, most of the stuff bands sell there is 100% profit for them.
End of rant. I work in the industry, and the big labels irk me - they're scum, always have been, always will be. The playing field is changing, and the labels are scared - and when they get scared, they raise prices. They're all liars and braggarts who will stab anyone in the bank for more money, power, and prestige. It's almost as scummy as the porn industry, these people are truly despicable.
With Rio getting out of MP3 players (surprised the HECK out of me, they're great devices), iTunes is poised to capture most of the market. The major lables are in freefall, and it's all uncertaintly and fear there. Major publishing companies like Sanctuary are on the brink of bankruptcy. More and more bands are putting their stuff out on their own, and are finding out, like Frank Zappa did, that if you sell 50,000 copies, but keep most of the money...you're rich!
The next year or so is going to be very, very, very interesting.
Sorry for the length of this...and i could go on! LOL. When peopel ask me how to get started in a mucis career...these days, I'm just not enthusiastic about it, and the thing I stress is HAVE A BACKUP CAREER, a way to make money no matter what happens. Ther's nothing wrong with working in the day, and playing at night - these days, you almost have to. The easy days of the 70's and 80's is long gone, when you could get signed for wearing the right clothes, and it's a lot harder to make it.
Nice post!
I don't know if it's illegal or not - that issue is being slugged out in the courts by lawyers on both sides and will continue to be slugged out for years, most likely. However, the Supreme Court did rule in their last session that P2P software writers can be held liable for people using their product to download copyrighted works. No doubt the RIAA is prepping a torrent of lawsuits to test how far they can push this in their favor.
Typically, the RIAA decides to go after some small player, generally a teen-aged kid who got ratted out by his/her ISP for downloading music or movie files. They swoop in, confiscate the computer and threaten the kid and the parents with millions in fines and an eternity in prison, all in an attempt to scare them into settling for a few thousand dollars. They then move on to the next kid. They don't go after people with enough resources to fight back - RIAA people are among the lowest, most craven, scummiest things to ever roam the planet.
The earth has moved under the RIAA's feet thanks to digital music file transfer technology and mp3 players, and they see themselves as losing all of their power if this technology is allowed to flourish in any way - it'll be completely out of their control, just like talk radio and the Internet has caused the Left to lose control of the flow of information in this country.
To the perverts at the RIAA, this means the limos, the nose candy, the power to destroy legions of people with a phone call and the endless stream of young girls (and boys) they can use as sex toys just by promising to "make you a star" dries up overnight. So of course, instead of adapting to a new landscape, they will fight to the death to keep their antiquated, hopelessly corrupt empire propped up.
Glad to be of service. You can always freep mail me if you have more specific questions.
-- libravoter
Great post. I see a day coming where artists go straight to iTunes, or the internet itself, and forgo a "label" altogether: produce yourself . . . it's easy to do these days. The tricky part would be the marketing, I guess. But the days of big labels are numbered, big time.
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