MadonnasManOne

I really can't believe I am reading this, but, alas, it's true:

http://gizmodo.com/5361697/music-ind...second-samples

[CNET via Electronista]

Dear music industry: go fuck yourself.

Music royalty groups ASCAP and BMI are harassing online music stores such as iTunes to pay performance fees not only for the songs that they sell, but for the short clips that they use as previews. You know, the things that entice people to pay for music. They want to be paid for advertisements for their product.

Just how backwards is this industry? How many years can they continue to just not get it in such an extreme way? You would have thought that maybe it would have taken a few years for them to figure out the internet, but we're way beyond that. This entire industry seems to be run by people who don't just not understand the internet, but are aggressive about not understanding the internet. They have their old way of doing business and the old way the world works, and they'll be damned if any new fangled thing like a complete upheaval in the way people acquire and listen to music is going to change that.

It'd almost be funny if the people who were really being harmed by these jackasses weren't the artists. Bands aren't the ones pushing for something that will only end with their best form of advertising being pulled from the iTunes Music Store (because make no mistake, that's what will happen before Apple pays for fucking song clips). It's these royalties idiots, the same people who almost killed off Pandora.

So here's the bottom line, guys: you're doing it wrong. And you've been doing it wrong for a while. You need to figure out a new way of doing business, and that doesn't mean just shifting fees around and charging where you clearly shouldn't be charging. Earn your paychecks, because unlike the bands you purport to be representing, you're still getting them.

bunkaroo

Boy if they're trying to increase illegal downloading, mission accomplished.

smashthesymbols

This is a joke right? It has to be.

Dan

where's Ashton??

cranberries fan

What's next dam they are so anal!

Josh-da-man

I suspect that the fine folks at the music industry are feverishly laboring away, trying to find a way they can monetize ear worms.

UAIOE

I've long ago decided that Music Industry higher-ups are self-hating masochists.

Because there is no other explanation as to why they would do everything they could to make the people they are trying to sell stuff to, hate them.

big whoppa

That's just f'ing stupid. They may be hurting because of declining CD sales but that's not the answer. I've already noticed that many new mp3 downloads are now $1.29 when they were only 99 cents before.

Michael Corvin

I'm amazed at the stupidity of this industry. Really, take away the one thing that makes people want to buy your music? Outstanding.

Buy from Amazon instead of iTunes. Save your $.30.

DVD Josh

I was going to say exactly this.

The problem is the downward spiral they get themselves in. Music sales are down because of illegal downloading (whatever degree can be argued). So they attempt to recoup that loss with stupid legal challenges. Which encourages more illegal downloads, which are responded to with more costs, etc.

What they need to do is abandon the physical sales model as a primary income point and figure out a way to capitalize.

orangecrush

I have an easy solution that is just so crazy it might work. Lower the price of digital media to about $2 a record. The only people who will be pirating at that point will be the people who fill TB external drives with media they will never consume. It will increase the total number of sales to the point that they will be making more money than they are now.

DVD Josh

If albums were $2 a pop at 320, I would probably D/L things just for the hell of it.

orangecrush

As would I and most anyone with a passing interest in music. It becomes an impulse buy at that point. Though I think 256 AAC is the best you will get unless people start caring more about sound quality.

Groucho

This makes no sense at all. Similar to movie studios pulling down trailers (advertisements for THEIR MOVIES) from YouTube.

islandclaws

Here's another idea: lower the price of CD's. In today's digital download world, there are still some people (myself included) who like to purchase new music. But I'm not inclined to buy a physical CD from a band I'm kinda into for $15. EVERY single CD should be $10 max. I have no incentive to buy them anymore because as soon as I see an album I want in stores, and it's $15.99 (or more), I make a mental note to download it later for free. Until the labels realign their price points, all sales will continue to decline with no chance of a turnaround.

UAIOE

I can't understand why music labels (mostly Warner Music Group) make people change the music on the music videos.

I could understand if they wanted a music video taken down (not sure why, that is promotion), but they just make people change the music and not the video itself.

Huh?

And the WMG changed stuff I've run across on Youtube? WMG doesn't even have their own version of it on there. Idiots.

orangecrush

I saw the 3 new releases that interested me this week (Thrice, Muse and Porcupine Tree) at Amazon for $9.99. I don't normally look there so I don't know if they normally only charge $10 for new releases, but you may consider them if $10 is really your sweet spot.

jeffbase34

$15 is way too much for me especially since a lot of cds come in cheap cardboard cases now. Those 30 second samples are a major deciding force in whether I buy or not.

Dan

Also, there are some FYE stores doing a test run of all single-disc CDs for $9.99. If I was near one of those stores, I'd buy a ton of CDs at that price. But since I'm not, I choose my purchases a little more carefully.

islandclaws

True, BB and Amazon sell some new releases for $10 but those aren't always for big artists. Even when it is, $10 should be the BASE price, not the sale.

bunkaroo

Yeah as said above for $2-$3 a pop I would try a lot of stuff. Back when I was doing eMusic for a bit I think I spent $140 on like 60 full albums or something like that.

They can still sell the A list stuff for a little more, but they need to figure how to make people want to buy legit, as trying to stop them doesn't work.

I'd rather get a 320 properly encoded download for a few bucks over a crappy encoded one for free anyway.

big whoppa

Actually, I was referring to Amazon. I've noticed some newer downloads going for $1.29. I actually bought one with my promotional money (free for me) for that price.

orangecrush

The sad thing is the only lossless downloads you can get are the free ones.

kstublen

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I do not like downloading stuff off of iTunes or Amazon unless there is absolutely no way for me to obtain it in a physical format. I try and go get CDs I want the first week because you can find them on sale for $9.99, sometimes less. I will, on occasion, by CDs at a higher price than that if I really want it. That being said, if they made all CDs have a MSRP of $10.00, I would purchase a lot more (I used to purchase a lot more than I do now, but I still have upward of 700 CDs, and that is counting box sets and multiple disc albums as one) and I imagine other people would as well. If you get an album with 15 songs for $10, that isn't a bad price. I don't understand why studios refuse to adjust the price basis. It makes no sense whatsoever.

MadonnasManOne

It's called greed! The higher ups won't get as much money. They already give the artist very little of the money for each CD sold, from what I understand. The last I heard, most artists only get $1.00 per CD sold, and that is ridiculous, if you ask me. The artists should be the ones making the most money off of the music, not the executives!