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Serious essay on the music biz
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<blockquote data-quote="LightPhoenix" data-source="post: 5892735" data-attributes="member: 115"><p>The major issue here isn't really piracy. It is <em>one</em> issue, but piracy existed before the internet, before CDs, and even before tapes. In fact, I'm not even sure there <em>is</em> a major issue in the digital age, just a congruence of issues:</p><p></p><p>1) People tend to forget this, but the record companies <em>do</em> (or did) have a specialized purpose - promotion. There's an assumption in the article (and often in general) that promotion is easy and cheap. It isn't. Promotion is a lot of work, and costs a lot of money and time. A lot of people are running into the hard reality that the internet hasn't changed that. You have a problem with YouTube/Facebook/Reddit/Twitter/etc? Don't use them, and don't be surprised when no one hears your music.</p><p></p><p>1a) This also applies to distribution, for the most part.</p><p></p><p>2) Few artists got some magical start by virtue of their music being good. Most of them had a long, hard road to success coupled with a few lucky breaks. Most of them played <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> gigs for little to no money hoping to attract a crowd or be noticed by someone in the industry. Even those musicians that do find success can find it fleeting - the term "one-hit wonder" didn't come from nowhere. It's great that technology and the internet has made production costs fall to levels where anyone can do it. That doesn't excuse anyone from the <em>work</em> that it takes to become successful.</p><p></p><p>3) The downside to the costs of production and distribution dropping (in theory anyway) is the expectation that price drops as well. If technology made it easy for a musician to put their music online, then those savings should be reflected in the price. No one ethically expects to pay nothing, but they do expect a fair market price that takes advantage of the technological means available. Why shouldn't someone be allowed to buy a single song from a CD, if it's not going to be on physical media where it makes sense to put as much on it as possible?</p><p></p><p>4) A lot of income comes from non-album sales - merchandise tables at tours, for example.</p><p></p><p>5) If piracy has done anything to change the face of the music industry, it's to magnify the importance of these points. Whether anyone likes it or not, it's no longer possible to expect (or even force) people to pay for your music because it's the right thing to do. You want people to pay for your stuff? That means doing the hard work of promotion, distribution, suffering, and innovating - all the things that bands, successful and not, have been doing for decades in one form or another. </p><p></p><p>The short story is that the Digital Age has certainly made <em>some</em> aspects of being a musician easier. There are valid ethical questions and conversations that it has posed. However, I feel a lot of these rants seem to come from people who, ostensibly, feel entitled to being profitable musicians without actually having to put in the effort.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LightPhoenix, post: 5892735, member: 115"] The major issue here isn't really piracy. It is [I]one[/I] issue, but piracy existed before the internet, before CDs, and even before tapes. In fact, I'm not even sure there [I]is[/I] a major issue in the digital age, just a congruence of issues: 1) People tend to forget this, but the record companies [I]do[/I] (or did) have a specialized purpose - promotion. There's an assumption in the article (and often in general) that promotion is easy and cheap. It isn't. Promotion is a lot of work, and costs a lot of money and time. A lot of people are running into the hard reality that the internet hasn't changed that. You have a problem with YouTube/Facebook/Reddit/Twitter/etc? Don't use them, and don't be surprised when no one hears your music. 1a) This also applies to distribution, for the most part. 2) Few artists got some magical start by virtue of their music being good. Most of them had a long, hard road to success coupled with a few lucky breaks. Most of them played :):):):):):) gigs for little to no money hoping to attract a crowd or be noticed by someone in the industry. Even those musicians that do find success can find it fleeting - the term "one-hit wonder" didn't come from nowhere. It's great that technology and the internet has made production costs fall to levels where anyone can do it. That doesn't excuse anyone from the [I]work[/I] that it takes to become successful. 3) The downside to the costs of production and distribution dropping (in theory anyway) is the expectation that price drops as well. If technology made it easy for a musician to put their music online, then those savings should be reflected in the price. No one ethically expects to pay nothing, but they do expect a fair market price that takes advantage of the technological means available. Why shouldn't someone be allowed to buy a single song from a CD, if it's not going to be on physical media where it makes sense to put as much on it as possible? 4) A lot of income comes from non-album sales - merchandise tables at tours, for example. 5) If piracy has done anything to change the face of the music industry, it's to magnify the importance of these points. Whether anyone likes it or not, it's no longer possible to expect (or even force) people to pay for your music because it's the right thing to do. You want people to pay for your stuff? That means doing the hard work of promotion, distribution, suffering, and innovating - all the things that bands, successful and not, have been doing for decades in one form or another. The short story is that the Digital Age has certainly made [I]some[/I] aspects of being a musician easier. There are valid ethical questions and conversations that it has posed. However, I feel a lot of these rants seem to come from people who, ostensibly, feel entitled to being profitable musicians without actually having to put in the effort. [/QUOTE]
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