05-05-2003, 11:08 PM
Hi,
As for the artists: I think if the RIAA goes down (i.e., enough people boycott, which will never happen), they'll have a more powerful and personal way to contact fans and get their music to the people who are actually interested: the internet and mp3's. The "evil" technology of today will become the business model of the future. It will mean an artist's pay will depend on his productivity and creativity, not his hype, and it will cause some real motivation to produce valuable music - they'll actually WORRY about whether anyone will like their product, whereas today their contracts assure them some profit even if they suck.
OK, first, I am not a music industry guru. I know just about as much as the average informed person. However, your assumptions seem very simplistic.
There are a few people out there who write a song, score the music, pick up a guitar and sing into their tape recorder. Your model would maybe work in their case. But, the more common case is that one person writes the song (or perhaps just the words and another the music), a second sings it. Probably with a few people for accompaniment, both instrumental and vocal. And almost each piece of that is recorded to a separate track. Then a sound engineer "mixes" all that together and makes something better out of it. But that means a studio and all that entails. Which means costs. Which someone has to front. So, the music industry is dead, long live the music industry.
But even so, where the hell are you coming up with: "an artist's pay will depend on his productivity and creativity"? In your model, the artist gets paid exactly nothing. Oh, sure, one person will pay a buck to download one song from the artist's site. And then all the kiddies will pass that song around. Net gain to the artist -- not even the worth of a fart.
So, if you and your like minded friends do indeed pull down RIAA, then either something just like it will crop up, or the only music you'll ever hear again is live music, performed where there aren't any recoding devices. And the prices will be high. For that is the only way a musician can make a living if he can't sell recordings.
No, there are many things wrong with the music industry, just like there are in the game industry. And the solution to each is the same, don't buy. But that does not give anyone the right to steal.
--Pete
As for the artists: I think if the RIAA goes down (i.e., enough people boycott, which will never happen), they'll have a more powerful and personal way to contact fans and get their music to the people who are actually interested: the internet and mp3's. The "evil" technology of today will become the business model of the future. It will mean an artist's pay will depend on his productivity and creativity, not his hype, and it will cause some real motivation to produce valuable music - they'll actually WORRY about whether anyone will like their product, whereas today their contracts assure them some profit even if they suck.
OK, first, I am not a music industry guru. I know just about as much as the average informed person. However, your assumptions seem very simplistic.
There are a few people out there who write a song, score the music, pick up a guitar and sing into their tape recorder. Your model would maybe work in their case. But, the more common case is that one person writes the song (or perhaps just the words and another the music), a second sings it. Probably with a few people for accompaniment, both instrumental and vocal. And almost each piece of that is recorded to a separate track. Then a sound engineer "mixes" all that together and makes something better out of it. But that means a studio and all that entails. Which means costs. Which someone has to front. So, the music industry is dead, long live the music industry.
But even so, where the hell are you coming up with: "an artist's pay will depend on his productivity and creativity"? In your model, the artist gets paid exactly nothing. Oh, sure, one person will pay a buck to download one song from the artist's site. And then all the kiddies will pass that song around. Net gain to the artist -- not even the worth of a fart.
So, if you and your like minded friends do indeed pull down RIAA, then either something just like it will crop up, or the only music you'll ever hear again is live music, performed where there aren't any recoding devices. And the prices will be high. For that is the only way a musician can make a living if he can't sell recordings.
No, there are many things wrong with the music industry, just like there are in the game industry. And the solution to each is the same, don't buy. But that does not give anyone the right to steal.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?