(no subject)
Bands are finally starting to get it. For decades music fans have been paying for overpriced cds and vinyl and 95% of the money from those sales has been going to the record company executives. The bands have been earning a paltry couple of percent and having to rely on concerts to provide their real income. Now I'm not saying the musicians didn't get rich. It's quite obvious that they do. But again, it isn't the records that earn them the money but the concerts.
RIAA has been hamming out the propaganda that file sharing is destroying the music industry and putting musicians in the poor house. That it is p2p responsible for plummeting record sales. Incidentally record sales haven't plummeted. They have actually climbed fairly steadily. It just hasn't been as huge as the industry wanted. Some less intelligent musicians (Lars Ulrich springs to mind) have swallowed this propaganda hook, line and sinker. Lars still firmly believes it was p2p which made St. Anger do so poorly. The fact that Metallica fans consider it to be pure crap had nothing to do with it.
Some bands on the other hand have realized that p2p has hurt them no more than people making mix tapes for their friends did. They have also seen the huge sales coming out of itunes and realized that if your music is good and isn't horrendously overpriced then it will sell very well indeed. Some bands have also come to realize that the RIAA isn't actually necessary any more. They understand that having a myspace account, videos on youtube, and airplay is all they really need. They Might Be Giants was the first big name to have their own website and release an album or individual songs dirt cheap. Unfortunately TMBG is a bit eclectic for most and although they did make money from the album sales it's not something that really caught the interest of the industry.
Now though even bigger names are following up. Many popular bands are releasing free tracks on their websites. Some are actually selling the music on their sites. We are getting closer and closer to a time when the RIAA will keel over and die and musicians will be the ones earning 100% of the money from their record sales. They will decide what advertising they want. They will decide what singles to release. And music prices will not only stop climbing, for a while they will drop considerably as the individual bands compete with itunes.
What brought up this thought all of a sudden? I've subscribed to the nin website at some distant point in the past and got this email today.
Message from Trent:
Hello everyone.
I'd like to thank everyone for a very successful year so far in the world of Nine Inch Nails. I'm enjoying my couple of weeks off between legs of our Lights In The Sky tour and got to thinking... "wouldn't it be fun to send out a survey to everyone that's shown interest in NIN?" Well, that's not exactly how it went, but regardless - here it is. As we've moved from the familiar world of record labels and BS into the unknown world of doing everything yourself, we've realized it would benefit us and our ability to interact with you if we knew more about what you want, what you like, what you look like naked, etc. I know it's a pain in the ass but we'd truly appreciate it if you'd take a minute and help us out. As an incentive, everyone who completes the survey will be able to download a video of live performance from this most recent tour (and I know what's going through your little minds right now: "I'll just grab this off a torrent site and not have to fill out the survey!!!" and guess what? You will be able to do just that and BEAT THE SYSTEM!!!! NIN=pwn3d!!!)
BUT
What if we were to select some of those that DO complete the survey and provide them with something really cool? I'm not saying we'll ever get around to it, but if we did maybe something like signed stuff, flying someone to a show somewhere in the world, a magic amulet that makes you invisible, a date with Jeordie White (condoms supplied of course), you know - something cool. See, you'd miss that opportunity AND be a cheater.
Do the right thing - help us out. You'll feel better.
Thank you and I've had too much caffeine this morning,
Trent
Visit here to take the survey:
https://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=1049187
True, nin is no longer a huge name in the music world but they still have legions of fans. And they finally said "Fuck You" to the recording industry and started doing this on their own. I took the survey, I downloaded the concert, and I immediately went to their website and downloaded the latest album for free. Then I purchased Ghosts I-IV for $5. I hope they make a shitload of money off this so that other artists can see that the internet and self distribution are the future.
RIAA has been hamming out the propaganda that file sharing is destroying the music industry and putting musicians in the poor house. That it is p2p responsible for plummeting record sales. Incidentally record sales haven't plummeted. They have actually climbed fairly steadily. It just hasn't been as huge as the industry wanted. Some less intelligent musicians (Lars Ulrich springs to mind) have swallowed this propaganda hook, line and sinker. Lars still firmly believes it was p2p which made St. Anger do so poorly. The fact that Metallica fans consider it to be pure crap had nothing to do with it.
Some bands on the other hand have realized that p2p has hurt them no more than people making mix tapes for their friends did. They have also seen the huge sales coming out of itunes and realized that if your music is good and isn't horrendously overpriced then it will sell very well indeed. Some bands have also come to realize that the RIAA isn't actually necessary any more. They understand that having a myspace account, videos on youtube, and airplay is all they really need. They Might Be Giants was the first big name to have their own website and release an album or individual songs dirt cheap. Unfortunately TMBG is a bit eclectic for most and although they did make money from the album sales it's not something that really caught the interest of the industry.
Now though even bigger names are following up. Many popular bands are releasing free tracks on their websites. Some are actually selling the music on their sites. We are getting closer and closer to a time when the RIAA will keel over and die and musicians will be the ones earning 100% of the money from their record sales. They will decide what advertising they want. They will decide what singles to release. And music prices will not only stop climbing, for a while they will drop considerably as the individual bands compete with itunes.
What brought up this thought all of a sudden? I've subscribed to the nin website at some distant point in the past and got this email today.
Message from Trent:
Hello everyone.
I'd like to thank everyone for a very successful year so far in the world of Nine Inch Nails. I'm enjoying my couple of weeks off between legs of our Lights In The Sky tour and got to thinking... "wouldn't it be fun to send out a survey to everyone that's shown interest in NIN?" Well, that's not exactly how it went, but regardless - here it is. As we've moved from the familiar world of record labels and BS into the unknown world of doing everything yourself, we've realized it would benefit us and our ability to interact with you if we knew more about what you want, what you like, what you look like naked, etc. I know it's a pain in the ass but we'd truly appreciate it if you'd take a minute and help us out. As an incentive, everyone who completes the survey will be able to download a video of live performance from this most recent tour (and I know what's going through your little minds right now: "I'll just grab this off a torrent site and not have to fill out the survey!!!" and guess what? You will be able to do just that and BEAT THE SYSTEM!!!! NIN=pwn3d!!!)
BUT
What if we were to select some of those that DO complete the survey and provide them with something really cool? I'm not saying we'll ever get around to it, but if we did maybe something like signed stuff, flying someone to a show somewhere in the world, a magic amulet that makes you invisible, a date with Jeordie White (condoms supplied of course), you know - something cool. See, you'd miss that opportunity AND be a cheater.
Do the right thing - help us out. You'll feel better.
Thank you and I've had too much caffeine this morning,
Trent
Visit here to take the survey:
https://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=1049187
True, nin is no longer a huge name in the music world but they still have legions of fans. And they finally said "Fuck You" to the recording industry and started doing this on their own. I took the survey, I downloaded the concert, and I immediately went to their website and downloaded the latest album for free. Then I purchased Ghosts I-IV for $5. I hope they make a shitload of money off this so that other artists can see that the internet and self distribution are the future.