Why stealing music is bad and you probably suck.
I see this topic popping up all the time about how it's ok to download a song or an album online for free. It only hurts the labels right?
I'm in the music business. I know how things go down. Not only do most bands tour for years, broke and starving in hopes of getting a break with a label capable of puting things into motion for them, but these bands are still broke as shit even after signing with a label.
Here are the facts:
When a band gets signed to a label, they may get signed for 12 points on average. This means they make 12 cents per dollar on each CD sold.
Now, lets say the record label pumps a million dollars into recording, producing, marketing, manufacturing etc for this bands first album.
What most people dont know is that that 1 million dollars is recouped from the band out of their 12%! Not the full retail price of the album!
So, the band owes the label a million dollars. The CD goes out through distro. The CD is $12 in the store, after distro and the rest the label makes around $6-$7 per CD sold. So the band is actually making 72 cents per CD sold and therefore must sell, 1.3 million records to break even!
Most deals are cross collaterlized over 3 albums. Which means, if the label doesn't recoup off the first album OUT OF THE BANDS SHARE, it gets tacked onto the next album and so on...
When a band signs to a label, they are basically giving up any and all profits on their CD in hopes of selling tickets and merch off of the labels promotion of the album. If the label doesn't generate enough interest/revenue off the bands album to justify further investments, the band is dropped. Period.
Music theft isn't hurting the labels as much as it is hurting bands. Because of this, most artists with truly great music end up deciding to stay independent and not signing to a major because after the label dumps all that money into them and their songs have circulated the web, unless they are an widly commercial act that you will end up hating in a week anyway that ends up going multiplatinum, they end up with shit and a shinebox by the time its over anyway.
The point is, stealing music fucks over everyone, especially the artists working their tales off to make a living with all odds against them.
It's no different than someone hacking your sites and posting passwords to your site all over the internet. You work constantly for months, and even years to build a network and everyone is stealing your livelyhood...
Same thing.
The moral is, music is cheap nowadays anyway. $9.99 for most CD's or on Itunes. There is no reason to steal it.
Just my thoughts. Don't kill music by being cheap.
Thanks.
I'm in the music business. I know how things go down. Not only do most bands tour for years, broke and starving in hopes of getting a break with a label capable of puting things into motion for them, but these bands are still broke as shit even after signing with a label.
Here are the facts:
When a band gets signed to a label, they may get signed for 12 points on average. This means they make 12 cents per dollar on each CD sold.
Now, lets say the record label pumps a million dollars into recording, producing, marketing, manufacturing etc for this bands first album.
What most people dont know is that that 1 million dollars is recouped from the band out of their 12%! Not the full retail price of the album!
So, the band owes the label a million dollars. The CD goes out through distro. The CD is $12 in the store, after distro and the rest the label makes around $6-$7 per CD sold. So the band is actually making 72 cents per CD sold and therefore must sell, 1.3 million records to break even!
Most deals are cross collaterlized over 3 albums. Which means, if the label doesn't recoup off the first album OUT OF THE BANDS SHARE, it gets tacked onto the next album and so on...
When a band signs to a label, they are basically giving up any and all profits on their CD in hopes of selling tickets and merch off of the labels promotion of the album. If the label doesn't generate enough interest/revenue off the bands album to justify further investments, the band is dropped. Period.
Music theft isn't hurting the labels as much as it is hurting bands. Because of this, most artists with truly great music end up deciding to stay independent and not signing to a major because after the label dumps all that money into them and their songs have circulated the web, unless they are an widly commercial act that you will end up hating in a week anyway that ends up going multiplatinum, they end up with shit and a shinebox by the time its over anyway.
The point is, stealing music fucks over everyone, especially the artists working their tales off to make a living with all odds against them.
It's no different than someone hacking your sites and posting passwords to your site all over the internet. You work constantly for months, and even years to build a network and everyone is stealing your livelyhood...
Same thing.
The moral is, music is cheap nowadays anyway. $9.99 for most CD's or on Itunes. There is no reason to steal it.
Just my thoughts. Don't kill music by being cheap.
Thanks.
100% true. 
not in underground / dance stuff anyway - I think the money gets better when you do mainstream commercial shit though.
.. but why do you say people dont understand that? Its still no excuse!!! Consume is consume, no matter how you gained it! 
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