[a fool in paradise]

"The Freeloaders - How a generation of womb-to-the-tomb socialists is ruining the future of America."

Wonder why The Atlantic didn't bother to write THAT piece...

[avacado]

Ironic that the entertainment industry doesn’t like freeloaders but have no problem strapping hard workers with the burden of paying for welfare bums.

[relictele]

“Avatar” Breaks Sales Records on Blu-ray and DVD
http://mashable.com/2010/04/26/avatar-blu-ray-sales-record/

‘Avatar’ to break worldwide sales record this week
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2010/01/25/avatar_to_break_worldwide_sales_record_this_week

2009 concert haul
1. U2; $123 million; $7,689,626; $93.77.
2. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band; $94.5; $2,147,288; $87.94.
3. Elton John/Billy Joel; $88; $3,259,794; $125.61
4. Britney Spears; $82.5; $1,618,381; $88.04.
5. AC/DC; $77.9; $1,657,220; $83.76.
6. Kenny Chesney; $71.1; $1,421,271; $68.73.
7. Jonas Brothers; $69.8; $1,341,990; $59.78.
8. Dave Matthews Band; $56.9; $1,211,005; $52.97.
9. Fleetwood Mac; $54.5; $1,067,620; $97.02.
10. Metallica; $53.4; $1,525,402; $65.16.
11. Nickelback; $47.4; $729,231; $47.42.
12. “Walking With Dinosaurs” ; $46.2; $1,126,829; $39.77.
13. Miley Cyrus; $45; $1,045,645; $68.87.
14. Trans-Siberian Orchestra; $43.7; $606,944; $44.68.
15. Eagles; $42.8; $1,710,773; $129.30.
16. Keith Urban; $42.7; $712,078; $63.27.
17. Celine Dion; $42.6; $1,934,759; $108.24.
18. Rascal Flatts; $42.2; $766,863; $54.84.
19. Coldplay; $40.8; $1,046,154; $61.79.
20. Paul McCartney; $40.7; $5,087,500; $121.57.

Oh dear - looks like the poorhouse for the entertainers....

[Dallas59]

Most of it has died real quick in the real world and when it gets on the net it’s just a curiosity.

[a fool in paradise]

...To be sure, today’s 20-something file-sharer may someday pay $200 to watch Vampire Weekend rock the Astrodome. Or maybe not; the Internet tends to fragment audiences. Generation X, of which I am a member, was probably the last to grow up with the Top 40 and only a few TV stations—and the kind of common taste that this structure instilled. The bounty of the World Wide Web encourages niche interests....

But the broader music industry, like other entertainment fields, has always worked on a tournament model: a lot of starving artists hoping to be among the few who make it big....

Time was, the music industry was made up of a lot of regionally located companies (Motown and Fortune in Detroit, Chess in Chicago, Sun and Stax in Memphis, King-Federal in Cincinnati, Starday and Duke-Peacock in Houston, Imperial in New Orleans...) in addition to Decca, Columbia, Capitol, and later big boys like Atlantic.

These got gobbled up (Stax by Atlantic, Duke-Peacock by ABC, and so on). Now it is Warner Bros., Sony, and a few other major monopolies.

SubPop was the last fluke rock and roll label to get on radio coast to coast. And SubPop's acts of the last 15 years haven't gotten the same radio or tv exposure despite them being "something different" than the majors offer as well as something other than "Nirvana-PearlJam-Soundgarden" retreads.

Time was that a band gigged around awhile, put out a single and got picked up for regional and national distribution. Now they are all manufactured. If you ARE a viable band for 5 years, the majors don't WANT you unless they can completely own your back catalog (as happened with Sympathy For The Record Industry's White Stripes releases, all released on a handshake).

Plenty of talent there. The labels won't touch it. The public doesn't want the crap they push same as home viewers don't want the same crap Big Media is pushing as "news" on tv or in newspapers or magazines.

Big Media's circle jerk has petered out. The public has gone elsewhere. Call it "niche markets". It is UNTAPPED markets. Same with the tea party frustration over the political establishment evermore pushing this country into socialism and open borders in spite of public protest against it from voting members of BOTH political parties.

[GonzoGOP]

When the cassette tape came out it was going to ruin the music industry.

When the VCR came out it was going to ruin the movie industry.

When the burnable CD came out is was going to ruin the music industry.

When the burnable DVD came out it was going to ruin the movie industry

When the mp3 came out it was going to ruin the music industry.

We have been hearing this for the better part of half a century. Yet the millionaires in Hollywood just keep building bigger mansions.

[Gaffer]

There are far greater abusers, freeloaders that plague this country beyond the petty file-sharer. They are the >50% of self-styled americans that do not pay Federal Income Taxes.

[IYAS9YAS]

...Concert-promotion mogul Michael Rapino has said that just 2 percent of Americans attend more than a couple of concerts a year...

Well, if they didn't charge and arm and a leg for the tickets, plus fees, plus taxes, just to see something on stage from 300 yards away, I'd go to more of them.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Mickey Mouse was "legally" stolen from me.

POWERS OF CONGRESS: "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries..."

The copyright on the first Mickey Mouse movies from 1923 were about to pass to the public domain when Disney successfully lobbied Congress to extend that copyright to 2018. That was special interest theft from the public, including me, of intellectual property and right to make derivative works. As 2018 nears, they are again lobbying for more indefinite extentions and international treaties to continue this theft.

The right to intellectual property is limited in duration to give the author a fair return and incentive, but then to contribute to the general base of human knowledge and not be hidden or limited.

Another problem with the law is that it must be generally enforceable without instituting tyranny by requiring invasiveness beyond the limits of the 4th Amendment or selective extreme enforcement. Digital copyrights cannot be enforced except highly selectively without extreme intrusion into all communications and private computer property. Therefore laws against non-commercial digital copying are unenforceable and invalid. And if the courts say they are, so what? Millions, even billions, will continue to do so and the result will be a general disrespect for the law that is the fault of the courts.

[SeeSharp]

Keep in mind this is the same record industry that tried for the better part of a decade to shove disco down our throats, and after ultimately failing at that, turned right around and handed us a steaming plate of rap.

[Ha Ha Thats Very Logical]

The record companies had their chance and blew it. They could have built a digital distribution infrastructure that gave people a chance to pay a fair price for music, but they ignored the technology (except for lawsuits) and dragged their feet. The original Napster operated from 1999 to 2001 and demonstrated the market for digital downloads. But not until Apple opened the iTunes Music Store in 2003 did people have an easy option for buying music online. That was at least 4 years during which the record companies could have built their own stores, but didn’t. If they had, maybe people wouldn’t have grown so used to taking stuff for free.

They could also have figured out a way to let you “trade in” your old music for the new format. Turning a vinyl album into an MP3 is tricky, but I’ve done it; but it’s a lot easier to look for the album online and download it instead.

[Tublecane]

“computational neuroscientist Anders Sandberg recently noted that although we have strong instinctive feelings about ownership, intellectual property doesn’t always fit into that framework”

This I’ve never understood. never mind about copyright extending beyond a person’s lifespan. Disagreement over that makes sense. However, this arbitrary distinction between property and “intellectual property” is tenuous at best. All property is “intellectual.” Otherwise, what is mine would only be what I could physically possess and physically defend.

Take me house, for instance. I occupy it. It is physical, so am I, and we have a physical relationship to one another when I’m in it. But often, and sometimes for long stretches of time, I’m not in it, and our physical relationship disappears. Suddenly, any ownership I might be able to claim logically becomes nothing but “intellectual.” Tell me, how is my relationship to my house any different, fundamentally, from a novel I wrote when I’m not in it?

[sbMKE]

You’d think a new system of “universal license” could fix the whole thing - pay $5 a month on top of your ISP fee, paid into a publishing pool, and distribute accordingly. Just like ASCAP, BMI, the BBC, etc.

It’s a model that would generate more money for the “industry” and everyone would get paid — except the record company execs would have to share instead of working collusive and monopolistic deals.

[Waryone]

How dare they call those undocumented record/movie owners freeloaders. They work hard figuring out how to get all those songs and movies uploaded and downloaded.../s

[BobL]

I grew up in the days of cassette tapes and remember just how CRAPPY they were...they cost the labels something like 25 cents, yet I had to pay $6.00, or more. Just to have them fail on me. In some cases I bought the same album 3 times.

It’s now payback time, as far as I’m concerned.

[JerseyHighlander]

We’re focusing on the wrong point on this thread.

The problem is Megan McArdle, she is a stupid fake CINO who writes stories way above her paygrade, her paygrade is closer to local newsrag obit writer, and for some reason she keeps getting promoted above her competence level.

FR has had plenty of threads regarding filsharing, and the music industry, and I can tell you right now McArdle is just NOT intellectually and musically curious, she belongs to a social group that is not intellectually and musically curious, she writes for an audience she thinks is not intellectually curious, and she doesn’t even comprehend that she lives in a little self imposed box.

How has the music world changed? My local library supports concerts from musicians from Cajun country, Quebec, Scotland, Russia, Israel, New ENgland, Nashville each year through sponsorships.

The local music clubs bring in groups from Europe and Japan and recently Vancouver, and the entirety of the East Coast US.

The local dance club plays mixes from musicians the world over, and brings in DJ’s from the East Coast and Europe regularly.

The concept of the performer getting royalties on recorded performances is a historical and economic anomaly in the Western tradition.

The music industry in this country will not revive until the club culture is revived in as many markets as possible, the best way to revive American music,... remove the smoking bans, zoning laws, etc from club owners so a performance space can allow people the freedoms they can now only enjoy in their homes.

/longwinded