Indeed. According to every article presented by the music industry,
they are losing revenue. In fact they are still claiming that their
“losses” by extension amount to 42 times the global GNP.

According to every independent scientific study commissioned by
governments and produced by independent universities, the net “loss of
sales” due to unauthorized copying and filesharing is nil.

I love it when some troll comes along blaming others for blatant
ignorance while blithely asserting that his own “knowledge” comes from a
source which has been proven to disregard any and all empirical
evidence to the contrary, of which there is ample.

Nice try. I especially like how you make the claim that “touring”
doesn’t make money, given that every successful artist claims otherwise.
Why don’t you try asking Lady Gaga how much of her income comes from
touring? Ah, you didn’t want to hear “80-90%”? Fine.

And if you aren’t successful enough as an artist to make money on
touring then it’s to be taken for granted that you wouldn’t sell any
records either. The silver lining is that no one will download you either. Enjoy.

You get a 10/10 for irrelevant nonsense, straw man argumentation and Lack of Facts.

Good job not understanding anything. You’re comparing the finances of a platinum record, sold out arena, pop idol to that of a touring metal band? Using irrelevant comparisons to bend an arguement in your favor is really intelligent of you. No shit that major pop divas make a killing off of touring.

But if you actually took a moment to read what I posted, you would understand that I fairly clearly stated “medium popularity metal bands.” You know, like Periphery, All Shall Perish, Oh Sleeper. Bands that tour VENUES, not ARENAS, and arent backed by media campaigns so large it would make Michael Jackson jealous.

These bands themselves have posted accurate detailings of their finances. The average night on tour pays them about 300 in a guarantee, which is their immediate cut of the nightly profits. Then they make usually around 300 in Merch sales, and some in CD sales.

After subtracting gas, Tour Manager cut, merch guy cut, border fees, maintenance, food, necessities, they make around 10 bucks per person. Not millions like Lady Fucking Gaga. What precious little extra they make is directly associated with their own merch cut and cd sales.

The fact that venues are now demanding close to 30% cuts on merch sales, and increased music piracy leading to disinterest in cd sales, almost all privately interviewed metal bands have stated are their biggest profit cutters while on the road.

You see a band like Periphery, that has hundreds of thousands of fans? Sometimes they come home from tour with less money than they started with. Thats why Matt Halpern made BandHappy for extra income while on the road.

You may have general statistics but you have no real argument or facts when it comes to the actual metal scene specifically, Monastery.

Eh?

Underhanded? Well, yes. If you sign with a label you have in effect most of the time made a deal with the sleaziest con man in town. Stands to reason you either learn to swindle them right back or perish.

Option C in other words.

I would make a case that the law should bar “rightsholders” from legal intervention if person A makes a copy of a file for person B as this was extensively hashed out in court several times already in the legal battles surrounding the tape cassette, the CD, and even the vinyl record.

Copying without profit motive is fair use. It’s that simple. Any law claiming differently is one which needs to be changed.