Wall of Mouths

i would have thought that the last fm site would be ok since you can’t download it…am i wrong?

It does seem to have become an unenforceable crime… and is a sad thing, at the same time I do think that music these days is sold at a ridiculous price (not that more goes to the artist) which seems to have pushed file sharing to get more popular. At the same time as someone who does release stuff, I would like to choose which things I give away for free… All the things I’m involved in have a limited budget and rely on covering the overheads to be able to make more releases.. not that money means everything to me but from a practical point of view.
We all bitch and complain about copy-protected cd’s and MP3’s.. me more than anyone and some of the ideas I have heard that record companies want to introduce scare me. It’s just a shame if it comes to that, and we are all to blame if it does

I’m as guilty, people have asked me what a band sound like and i have sent them a song for them to hear.. it is just too easy these days.

@Divers: too right, mate, too right.

@Ci?: What if, under that same reason, I stole all your underpants and put them in a big box on the street with a “for free” sign on it… Would you still think the same about “public property? :)

Divers wrote:

It does seem to have become an unenforceable crime… and is a sad thing, at the same time I do think that music these days is sold at a ridiculous price (not that more goes to the artist) which seems to have pushed file sharing to get more popular.

It’s true, in the end the artist is the victim… huge bands won’t even notice, but the smaller bands (like Manchild, Therapy?, …) will sell less, their record deals get in danger. Not every band will go to the struggle of finding a recordcompany who wants to put their stuff out.

If you’ve got respect for music, you should think what these things can lead to. I do not longer borrow my cd’s anymore to people I know who’ll make a copy of it! If they want to hear it, fine, but when I go home, I’ll take the cd with me again.

yes, and people are always going to take part

exactly

I think the only thing internet is going to destroy is weak music. IN the long run this copying and spreading works purging. Because everybody gets to know and hear new bands everyone will want to see’em live. The ones that are any good will survive the ones that suck or are overhyped will fail. Too bad for the industry their milk cows are going to dry up. I think Mastodon might be a good example of how it’s going to be. These guys have been touring like crazy and delivering the goods every time no matter the size of the crowd. They have released stuff, diy,on small labels, on relapse and now on a major. This is the way majors will have to act: sign reliable bands if they want to keep mnaking some $$ not disposable milk cows (like trivium or so). T? is a bit a different game, that major milk cow dried up but they proved to be a raliable pulling ox for the fans, much respect is due.
On a different note, personally I prefer downloading an album, going out to see the band and by a shirt or something limited at the gig. This way I know my money goes to the band and I get to have much more of the experiences involved. Before I could only buy a CD and then my money was burned.
More recently, finally establishing a steady cashflow I start buying CDs or LP s that have been lingering around in some form of “stolen state”, very rewarding actually: I get the kick of having something new with the reassurement (that a word?) of it being good!

Me done.
cheers

Totally agree, mate.

I’d like to point out that declines in CD sales can not be attributed to filesharing / copying entirely.

Early one CD’s were bought by people looking to replace their vinyl/tapes, and there was little else in terms of competition (video games were considered the domain of geeks, DVD had yet to be invented, and the whole mobile phone / ringtone craze didn’t exist).

Obviously all that has changed.

I’m not saying that piracy hasn’t affected CD sales, but the playing field has changed over the last 20 odd years.

As for major labels - they seldomly get my money these days. Most of the stuff I buy these days is from smaller / indie labels.

Perhaps the labels should focus more on those who are more ‘loyal’ to music and artists rather than fickle teenagers who latch on to whatever is the flavour of the week, and download Britney’s latest album because it’s “free” and they grow tired of it by next tuesday.

Having said - with a bit of luck I’ll have a shiny brand spanking new CD containing After Forever’s latest release this time wednesday afternoon.

More to do with mp3’s than copyright, but I found this a couple of weeks back, and thought it was interesting (if actually true):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Siberry

“In 2005, Siberry pioneered a self-determined pricing policy through her website[2] on which the purchaser is given the choices of: standard price (about $0.99 USD/track), pay now - self-priced, pay later - self-priced, or “a gift from Jane”. Her music is now only available in mp3 format in order to eliminate plastic waste. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Siberry confirmed that since she had instituted the self-determined pricing policy, the average income she receives per song from Sheeba customers is in fact slightly more than standard price. [5]

lol!