50.........

Well, sadly it is nearly impossible for a band to make it big without the help of a major label. There are a few exceptions, but there are always exceptions to every rule. Most bands I know, when they were starting out, didn't have the millions it takes to make a record, shoot a video and get played on the radio. There is a great book by one of the guys from a band called Semisonic called, "So you want to be a rock star?" It tells how they went from being nobody to behing huge and back to nobody. Basically it costs anywhere from 300K-500K to get a new band played on the radio. I don't mean played on a local independent radio station ( which are almost extinct by the way ) but played nation wide.

Big labels can be evil, but they can also be a big help. A band has to decide: would they rather get screwed by a record label and not make much of CD sales but sell out tours and make money on publishing and radio play and play in front of 3,000 people a night, or would they rather play in front of 300 people a night and make $4 a CD? either way can work for you, but if you have aspirations of being a big band you need the power that a major label can provide.

amen!

make those fuckers pay!

Rubbish.

While this may be true for tanglible items, like food, it's bullshit when you come to something like music.

Pretend you're a band. You have a CD. The CD is on the internet.
I would NEVER buy your music, because I don't buy music. I download your CD.

You HAVE NOT LOST any money.

Now while that is illegal, I can only say again:

Someone who WAS NEVER GOING TO BE a customer CANNOT cause you financial loss.

An oldie but goodie:

" the industry has been panicked by the prospect that these numbers will grow. That is a philosophical subtlety (well beyond the resolution of law) so delicate that the recording industry has been left with no recourse but hyperbole. After all, the threat of future financial damages is not so persuasive as the claim of current damages. Yes, it?s a lie. Like many we have heard before, and like many we will hear again. But the moral analysis of the Napster issue (and likely resolution) requires not only that we place this "lie" in a historical context, but also that we assess its impact beyond the present... more

2hp

Sorry dude but you are wrong. So if you were never going to be a customer then why did you download it? you did it because you were curious (or whatever reason) and in the end you took something of theirs without paying for it. That is like saying, "I don't know about this book I've heard about. So I'm going to go to the book store and read the entire thing then decide if I want to buy it." Just about every band will give you a song or two for free with the singles they release. If they don't give you a full song they will give you samples of their music. You can check those out and see if you like the band and then buy their CD otherwise you just have to roll the dice and try it. But to say that you were never going to be a customer unless you got it for free still doesn't make it stealing.

I will say this though. I think smaller, lesser known bands can benefit by allowing songs and CD's to be downloaded for free this way people can check them out without any risk.

This is bullshit, noone buys CD's anymore cause they're shit, only a couple of tracks on it are ever good and noone is going to pay money for shit. Downloading MP3s however gives people instant access to the band's music and those people are the ones who end up going to the band's concerts and coughing up $$$ to support their favourite band... Fuck greedy record companies, considering how much money they make and how little they pass onto the actual bands its easy to see why the fight so hard to "ban downloading"... fuckin stingy crooks!

Jeeeez :1orglaugh

If you download the CD and listen to it... NO, I can't subtract that from my existing sales... BUT.. I did NOT make money from that you are listening to what I produced. Just because its music, movies or whatever does not mean you are not using it. Its the USAGE/LICENSE you have to pay for.

As I try to point out: I'm not losing money, but I am not earning EITHER if its stolen.

I won't argue more about this. Its just plain stupid that you say you won't buy it (i.e. no sale) but you will use it... try jumping over the fence to a concert, get caught, and explain them when you get caught; -it was not my intention to get in, but now I'm here you haven't lost any money :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :thumbsup

Yeah! Clean that fucking puke up! NOW!

But seriously -- the "major label" model is going nowhere but down. Bands don't bother to produce more than one MAYBE two good songs on an album, and then the labels have the fucking balls to rape consumers on the price, adding very little value, versus an electronic distribution. THEN, like the dinosaurs they are, they fight any form of online distribution -- even iTunes and other legal licensing services!

Maybe there's a little pain right now, but the labels definitely aren't helping themselves by suing customers instead of offering licensing methods that make sense, fighting change rather than embracing alternative revenue streams, and shoving crap down our throat instead of cultivating quality collections of music.

I'm against stealing -- you should pay for what you use -- but I think the labels should wake up and smell the Internet.

You hit the nail on the head. The major labels these days seem to not make a full album anymore. They want a couple of radio hits that they can make videos for and and then sell you a $15 CD. these days people have a way around it. they actually have proof of this now when they point out that of all the songs sold on itunes most are singles.

You only deserve to own what you can afford to buy. This is the reason why I do not own a Ferrari.

If someone who cannot afford to buy music wants to own music they can either get it for free from legal sources or they can make music themsleves. Or, horror of horrors, they can get up off their backside and earn money to buy the things they want.

It's no different than someone hacking your sites and posting passwords to your site all over the internet.

Of course it is,, thats my biz. music is not. :P

same thing happened to me -

someone hired me to produce music for their project -

they were very happy with the song,

they used the song and gave me credit on the reel.

they never paid me for the song.

its all good cause karma can be a mohterfucker.