Record Sale Plumet, RIAA blame Online Music Swap

[moe.ron]

Ok, look like RIAA is blaming the internet. Well you know what, I blame the record company for releasing crap music that nobody want to hear. You have one or two decent song and the rest of the album is crap. Then again I don't really listen to radio music anyway and most of the band I listen to make their money from touring.

Anyway disucss, is the record sale caused by the internet or the fact that records are just crap?

[juniorgrrl]

Maybe its because people don't want to pay $18+ for a piece of crap?

[Kevin]

Seriously, why are CD's so expensive? They're pricing themselves out of business. When there are usually 4-5 stores in the mall that sell the SAME EXACT THING you know the profit margin is very high.

[AchtungBaby80]

I once heard that it costs only a few cents to manufacture a CD. Looks like all the people who have to have their royalties are getting greedy. It annoys me when recording artists admonish us not to "steal" their music by downloading it off the Internet, but aren't they "stealing" our money every time we buy an overpriced CD?

[moe.ron]

Actually, recording artist are making very little off cd sales. Most of them make their money from touring. Here is an example:

A very famous recording artist, let say the Rolling Stones will probably get 15 points out of 100. That's only 15% of sales. Now a mid-level band will be lucky to get about 5 points. That means 95% of the money go to the record label, and 5% go to the recording artist. Why do you think a lot of bands and artist don't mind when their fans download their music, they're not getting much anyway. This example might be totally wrong, but that is because i just got back from a wine tour and we stop in aobut 14 wine farms and had wine tasting. Oh the joy of being out of work but having dollars in South Africa.

[33girl]

It's because the music is crap AND because CD's are too expensive.

Also it seems like there are a lot of "one hit wonders" around. If the record companies are going to push that, they need to put it in the proper form. You used to be able to buy a single for 79 cents - now CD singles are around $7.50!! I don't think anyone feels the umpteen "remixes" and "hidden tracks" (i.e. cutting room floor stuff) justify that price.

Simply put, artists with no depth will not sell CD's.

[AchtungBaby80]

Originally posted by 33girl
You used to be able to buy a single for 79 cents - now CD singles are around $7.50.

$7.50 for a single?!?! Are you kidding me? Thank God my computer has a CD writer.

[ZTAngel]

Music fans are starting to realize how cheap a CD is. We're able to buy recordable CD's for less than $1 each. So, it's much cheaper to download a whole able and burn it than buy a $18 CD from Camelot (I found them to have the most expensive CD prices). Most musicians make their money from touring and other promotional paraphenalia such a t-shirts and posters.

[LXA1048]

I think the record industry has gotten what it deserved. In the past the record label would push the entire album. Now, in MTV world, they only push one song from the album. Some artists have complained because their record labels wanted to hold off some of their songs to release another album in 6 months. Instead of making one great album, they spread it out over 2 albums and a coulple of soundtracks. I think the music industry is getting what it needs, a taste of reality. Popular music is horrible. No one even plays their own instruments anymore and the people that due just play enough to get by (cough Hives, cough Vines, cough White Stripes). The amount of truely talented artists is fading to nothins.

[DeltaSigStan]

Our school newspaper called anyone one of us who D/L music a bunch of "Teenybopper candyland preppie superficial thieves who can't respect an artist enough to BUY their music."

Thanks everyone, I'm glad you all see why D/L music is somewhat justified.

[lovelyivy84]

not to mention that artists are then CHARGED for things like videos, recording time, promotion, etc. Why do you think TLC was bankrupt?

This is all comival also because in other entertainment news Spiderman DVD sole 7 MILLION copies in ONE DAY.

Music people need to address why people feel so comfortable buying a movie (supplemental footage, behind the scenes interviews and info) even though you can download those online too.

And stop with the one hit wonders. I'll be damned if I shell out 17 bucks for a cd with one good song. Been burned one time too many.

Originally posted by Arya
Actually, recording artist are making very little off cd sales. Most of them make their money from touring. Here is an example:

A very famous recording artist, let say the Rolling Stones will probably get 15 points out of 100. That's only 15% of sales. Now a mid-level band will be lucky to get about 5 points. That means 95% of the money go to the record label, and 5% go to the recording artist. Why do you think a lot of bands and artist don't mind when their fans download their music, they're not getting much anyway. This example might be totally wrong, but that is because i just got back from a wine tour and we stop in aobut 14 wine farms and had wine tasting. Oh the joy of being out of work but having dollars in South Africa.

[Imthechamp]

Hah...I just downloaded Justin's whole album in less then 15 minutes and burned in 5...

[texas*princess]

don't know why they are crying... it's getting harder and harder for me to find decent MP3's on the web.

Would anyone like to share which music swapper they use? I have had terrible luck with AudioGalaxy and Kazaa lately.

[Imthechamp]

What kind of music do you listen to? I downloaded Justin's album of Kazaa and I have never had a problem finding anything from it.

[KSig RC]

Kazaa is a horribly made program, but it still works very very well.

Probably the easiest way is to transfer over programs like AIM - I have all of my music uploaded, you can just rip it right off my box.

(ps - i just said "rip it right off my box")