Cold_Zero wrote:1. Your first example shows only one side of the picture. If you sign a fledgling band and they make it big, so does your company. I doubt that your small artists are the ones constantly being downloaded on Kazaa and other gnutella software programs.
2. What about the fact that some of the smaller artist use file sharing to get their music out to the public? Because the bigger corporations are "loosing money" to file sharing they want to quash the ability for smaller artists to share their music and build a fan base? You cant tell me that a portion of this issue is not based on Corporate Greed.
1. It may be just a side of the picture but it's a common one. Small no-name labels make up a pretty big portion of the music industry. The chances of one of our bands making it big is pretty slim because again, our label category caters to a small, niche market or as we like to call it "subculture." Our bands aren't "pop" enough to get heavy airplay or MTV exposure (both vital to huge success). On the flip side, it's typical for bands with moderate success to get lured away to bigger labels to sign more lucrative deals and thus becoming pop and turning in their original audience for a larger, pop-oriented audience.
2. If file-sharing exposure helps small artists, we'd all be clamoring over featuring spots on Kazaa, WINMX, etc. The problem with this is that you still need marketing power and strike luctrative deals with these file-sharing services to even be featured. It's not corporate greed at work here. If you could meet the guys at our label, it'll dispell any myth about greedy corporate big wigs. We're to do what we do best so musicians can focus on what they do best: make music. We care about our reputation, we care about the music, we care about bands and regard them as family members and we care about the quality of music our customers are paying for. Just like everyone else, we have to support ourselves and families and expect to get paid for the product we sell. If you still think labels are immoral or corrupt, fine, just consider us a necessary evil.
3. Music labels simply cannot be bypassed. Not only does the label possess the facilities to market the music to a larger audience, we do the best we can to market the band to the right audience, promote them in the right manner and have the business acumen to get them the best deals. Contrary to popular belief, we do have their best interests in mind. Being a musician is easily one of the toughest jobs out there- these guys are on the road constantly, sometimes playing gigs at dinky bars, not knowing when their next paycheck is coming in and how much they're gonna get paid. These guys aren't just part of our bottom-line, they're friends and family first. As a label we seek to do the best we can for them. The perception of fat-cat musicians throwing a tantrum despite raking millions is false. For every Linkin Park there's hundreds of indie bands playing their tails at underground clubs, cafes and hell even barmitzfa's (sp?).
4. The economy can't be blamed for the lack of sales. Despite the waning economy, 2002 was a record-breaking year for both the movie and videogame sectors. Videogames jumped 8% to $6.9 billion while movies like Spiderman, Lord of the Rings contributed to a blockbuster year at the cinema. Entertaining is still booming and that's an obvious sign file-sharing has hurt the music industry. If you think the RIAA is tough, try copying a movie and distributing them without the studio's consent, you're looking at huge fines and even jail time.
5. I reiterate that the RIAA does not speak on everyone's behalf. Their methods are extreme and not condoned by others in the industry like myself.
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I'm going to have to go with Fiznat on this one, it's still wrong no matter what way you cut it...but its one of those things like speeding, you'll never stop it and everybody does it at some point.
