i Joined this forum WAY too late. Great topic. In my opinion illegal downloading hurts the industry.Period. I hear all kinds of excuses like, " the record companies are greedy and were screwing the artists any way " or " bands and record companies are just complaining...they just don't make good enough music anymore " . The most hilarious one is " Ill listen to a few songs, and if i like them, i will buy them. " SURE ! You are already on the site, the songs are a click away, and your going to get up, get in your car, drive 3-15 miles, and spend $14 ?
I have heard it all. Back when napster got going in 97-98 i was 100% behind Larz Ulrich when he went to congress...but he backed down. I was PISSED ! Metallica had always been an against the grain band ( yes i know they tape traded , big deal, way different ) i think Larz should have kept at it and told the punk-ass college kids " yeah, im rich and greedy so F off! " That would have been the Metallica thing to do...but he had a big record company up his butt and he was trying to keep Metallicas public relations together.
That was the beginning of the end. Music is not a necessity product...its not even in there with cigarettes , alcohol , and fast food. People are VERY choosy about music. If you screw them on a cd, they may not buy that bands cd again unless they hear better songs on the radio. Plus, back in the day you could buy a new cd, if it sucked, you could take it to the pawn shop and get $4-$6 back out of it. Especially if it was a big well known band.
Record companies are the LEAST evil of the evil corporations. THE LEAST ! Hell, people are lining up to get screwed by private healthcare insurers , they choose to drive huge gas guzzling rigs, spend money on stuff that kills them slowly BUT
" I want my music for free !" Really ?
I grew up in the golden age of big performance, high quality produced stadium rock...fulled by what ? MY $$$$$. Bands and tours eat money like mad : Producer studio fees, promotion, attorneys, accountants, busses, fuel, catering, sound and light people, stage roadies,....go read David lee Roth's crazy from the heat....or Kiss and Sell. The industry takes MONEY. And it is a fickle want based industry. Yeah, there a shysters in the industry but that's the way it is in anything. Id trust a record exec with my bank account more than i would a health insurance exec. Those people let people DIE!
Younger people don't have a grasp on this at all. They think you sign a deal and the record company pays you millions of dollars. They don't. They give you advances that you have to pay back and if you aren't bringing in money ? Buh-bye. Once you pay off the advances you get a small % of the income take. For album sales it can be as little as 98c per cd sold....for the whole band ! And that was back before file sharing. The record company has to use alot of the money to keep your band rolling. Even if you are good. Then yeah, the big shots get their cut then the band.
Nowdays if you are not a household name ? You can make it but you have to work you EYEBALLS out. Its sad. I miss the glory days. I always supported music by buying cd's and dvd's. Always. Never downloaded even 1 song illegally. NEVER.
And sound quality. MP3's suck.
