Another example of a big indie act choosing not to sign with a major would be the current mainstream music media darling Bright Eyes. He’s been making his living through his music with Omaha label Saddle Creek since he was like 14, and he’s turned down major-label deals including fat signing bonuses multiple times because he likes the freedom he gets with his own label.
Furthermore, it’s inaccurate to say that indies get acts the majors “don’t want.” Where do you think the majors’ acts come from? They can’t all be fabricated out of thin air like N*SYNC or Avril Lavigne or Kelly Clarkson. The independent scene is where good bands get their start, and where some good bands choose to stay.
Music cds are stupidly overvalued. Take the sountrack to ‘8 mile’. $18 cost, and it does not even have the freestyle raps depicted in the movie, which many say were the best parts of the movie. It’s like doing a soundtrack to ‘Psycho’ without featuring music from the shower scene.
Ah, I slay me.
Anyway, they made a conscious decision not to include any music from the film on the soundtrack – note the ‘music inspired by the film’ line. The movie’s set in 1995, and they weren’t looking to release the soundtrack as a period piece. The freestyle stuff… well, that’s borderline, but the point is they had a concept they were aiming at for the soundtrack, and that wasn’t it.
This is a fun argument that sounds great on the surface but never really stands up to closer examination. If you steal my washer and dryer, I no longer have a washer and dryer. If you steal one of my Mp3s, we both have Mp3s. Sure, the label doesn’t get the cut that it wants, but that’s their tough luck for overpricing.
I mean, let’s not pretend that what we’re doing with most filesharing is legal. It’s not. However I try to justify it, it’s still illegal. However, these are the measures I must take, considering I’m playing in a field where the companies that own the music engage in illegal acts themselves, and do not face repercussions because of the big money they put in to maintaing their monopoly. So let’s face it: while the majors are going to continue keeping their prices illegally high (through price fixing et al), I’m going to continue downloading music for free. There’s a difference between illegal and wrong.
I don’t think you understand the value added by the middleman (record company). Without the record company marketing the music to the public, the artist would just be some anonomous playing music in his garage or if they are lucky, some Jersey Shore bar. Few bands are able to successfully market themselves via word of mouth (or buzz advertising as it is often called). The Internet doesn’t help market music, it just provides a new channel for distribution. How would you search for “Dave Mathews Band” or “Britney Spears” or whoever until you actually know who they are?
Now I don’t know if the % the artist receives is fair or not. I’m pretty sure most of these big artists aren’t to badly off unless they pull an MC Hammer and blow their dough. But anytime you have to go through a big company, a large portion of that money is going to have to go to paying a lot of people in supporting jobs. Not only does the big fat-cat record exec have to get his cut but so does the accountant, the secretary, the mail room guy and so on.
Buying a CD is always a gamble. Sure, I’ve heard a song or two on the radio, but there are a lot more there. Will I like them? Will I hate them? Are the songs I’ve heard demonstrative of the bands style? Am I going to end up supporting political/social points of view I don’t agree with? In the end, am I going to get my $16.99 out of this purchase?
More than often, that answer is “no” to me. I end up buying a CD that has one song I like on it, which usually isn’t even worth putting in the player and fowarding too. So the album ends up on the floorboard of the car or behind the dresser, forgotten.
So, I don’t usually buy CD’s. I don’t usually file share either, because its illegal. However, I can see the justifications, and they make sense to me. The record company simply wouldn’t lose a single penny if I filled my hard drive with songs. However, they could probably make a few bucks off me if they just let me buy my CD’s a song at a time.
A question to artists. Do you really want someone to buy your CD if they aren’t going to enjoy it? Do you want this piece of something that I assume is personal to you in some way to end up on the floor, forgotten, even hated? Or do you really not care anymore as long as you get my money?
