I’m an independent musician.
Even though I am not aligned with
a major label, I support the major labels.

All I hear on these sites is a bunch of people that like to steal.

Let me tell you how the record biz works…
A label fronts the money to a band or singer so they can pay their rent, buy food for their family, upgrade their instruments, and have time to develop their material… and a shitload of other expenses.
THis is based on the idea that MAYBE they might be able to recoup their money from the invest they give to the band.

Sometimes a singer or a band doesn’t work out for what ever reasons… it’s a loss for the record label.
They may carry the band for a couple of years… at a loss.

Just like in manufacturing … you spend a shit load of money on research and development. The difference is you have a physical object that you can sell in a store… it’s not a digitized download of let us say a 40 inch
flat screen.

Record labels have research and development costs. Could they spread the wealth a little more… probably. However, they have losses more than you people know.

Their profits are small compared to
Gooogle, Yayhooo, and all the rest
of the corporate,professional sports world, and techie world. Go steal from them. —LOL—

How would you like it if I went to your house and downloaded(ripped off)your car. I don’t think you would like it so much.

It’s funny, when all of this illegal
download stuff started happening,
one of the main complaints was the expense of the album and that you didn’t like paying for an album when you only wanted two songs.

Now you can go to iTUNES and legally buy that one song for a buck or two.. and still you bitch and moan.

Also, most of you seem to think that the cost of a CD album is the blank media cost(about .80 cents in volumes of 50,000 units or more)
You are wrong. The major labels have to pay for the upkeep of the band before the CD is out, the recording costs(easily $25k to $65k), the cost of promoting to get radio/video play(very very expensive).. not to mention the costs of music vids that generate interest.

Think of it this way… an automobile has about$1,500.00 worth of raw metal, plastic, and electronics in it. But when you factor in labor(shaping the raw metal etc), engineering, marketing, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT(some cars are a failure before they go into regular production… sort of like some bands with a major label that you never hear about)and a few other items… that car now costs about
$15,000 to $20,000.

I have no problem with bands that want to give away their music…
but please don’t steal.

In my case… it takes about $10,000
to get a CD out. I have to pay the recording studio. I keep some costs down by recording some of the main tracks at my home studio. Still, I need a larger studio to fully realize my vision. I have to pay an art designer, I have to pay the guy who customizes my guitars and amps… shit I have to buy decent guitars and amps and software on and on… and that is just on the do it yourself independent method. I still have to feed my family… pay my rent… in other words… I pay my dues.
I can’t even begin to tell you the times that I had nothing but my acoustic… a back pack … and
some dirt to sleep on… in the cold and wet. Still, I never stole.

For about five or six months, you could find me every evening in the charity soup line.Anyhowz…

Most independent artists earn about$35,000.00 to $40,000 a year… if that. That’s a fact jack.

The bands that do get signed by a major label have these costs before and after they are signed. Bands just don’t appear… they have spent time and money to craft their art and hopefully get signed by a major to spread their art.

The difference is the major label has enough money to help the band out until they generate income from CD sales and downloads. The bands need to read over their contracts a bit better… not so much for money as much as who will hold the copyrights and publishing rights.
Los Angeles has plenty of attorneys that will work cheap to review your contract.

I don’t mind that Justin Timber whatever has alot of money… some of it is talent, some of it is good press(with the backing of his record label), some of it is dumb luck.
He has paid his dues. He didn’t have that money when he first started.

Personally, I don’t care for his music. I would never purchase his stuff. BUT, that doesn’t mean I think people should download his music for free.

Just cause you are jealous of his wealth doesn’t mean you should steal from him. He’s paid his dues. Besides if you steal from him… statistics show you will steal(download illegally) from me…
the poor independent… and I can’t afford that.

Think about this, the real rich boys are the ones like Shawn “free the music” fu**n Fanneeeeing of Crapster fame. Rumor is he has several huge houses and lot of fine cars… all off the back of hard working musicians… both Major and Independent. Don’t you think the
guys from Boooink or is it Oooink
make some serious money off the ads
they send to you down the wire.
What, you thought they did this for free… for art. The jokes on you…
and unfortunately, on the musicians that are trying to etch out a livin.

They, the bit toorrrent type programmers are making shit loads of money off of the theft of music and movies… both Majors and indie’s. They, the programmers, don’t work for free. Don’t kid yourself.

The bottomline is, if I want a Mercedes… I work and save to buy it. I do not go to your garage and steal it. Just because I can DO a thing(like download illegaly) doesn’t mean that I SHOULD do a thing.

Theses are serious choices in life. You need to learn them while you are young. Kharma can cut both ways.

If you really like an artist’s music or a director’s movie… then just buy it. You will be helping out not just the artist… but all those that the artist needs to get his or her vision out. It takes a team to realize the dream… and they need to get paid for it.

Also, if I have to depend on advertising supported revenue for my music… what is to stop the advertisers from trying to censor my music. Look at what happened to the
Dixie Chicks when they bashed Bush.
Lots of advertisers called the radio stations(that were playing the commercials) and told them to stop playing the Chicks or else the would pull their advertising spots… and they did. Their shows, in some states, were canceled. All the more reason they needed the revenue from their CD’s and downloads to keep them afloat until the wind blew the other way.

Personally, I do not see a difference in somebody walking into a Walmart and stealing a CD and someone who downloads illegally.
Both should be punished. It’s that simple. So stop rationalizing your stealing. Do the right thing… the majority of us still do. Piracy is just plain wrong.

By the way… CD’s DO sound better than MP3′s. It has to do with the
interpolation process.

Also, get some good studio type monitors and a good combination
CD/DVD player. Lot’s of albums are coming out in 24 bit 98khz format…
in the DVD format… it takes more storage for the 24bit 98Khz wave files.

Put the headphones down for a while… we are raising a generation of youth that is going deaf earlier and earlier.

Thank you for letting me share of my experience, and hopefully, wisdom.

M

hmmmmm, not interested in this.