Nope, not me. Nuh uh. Never would. Nope.
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(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
The recording industry is going to destroy iTunes. Watch for iPods to start being siezed for "evidence".
Yes, but these are the same idiots that supported Michael Moore and Algore. They *are* fools.
.99 each == music as a service
Variable pricing == music as a product
A product, which has no value as demonstrated by modern file-swapping.
Nope, not me. Nuh uh. Never would. Nope.
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If I pay 99 cents for a single song, I would like to be able to play it forever. Maybe I'll go back to recording songs off the radio with cassette tapes.
The RIAA will never learn. The reason for song swapping was the fact that you had 19 dollar cds with one or two good songs on them....no one wanted to pay that much for two songs. Then along came iTunes and let you buy only the songs you wanted for a decent price....now they are getting greedy again and going with their dinosaur model of doing business....and driving more people back to swapping over the Net.
The RIAA is filled with complete and utter fools.
There's already some motion in the direction of the record companies. I tried to buy the tune from the last segment of the Six Feet Under finale. I found it just fine, but they would only sell it with the 12.99 album.
I didn't want it that bad.
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.