Is piracy really damaging the music business?

tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Just saw this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7173993.stm

OK, so not much was released this week, which may put a slant on things. However, this album has been available to download for a very small fee, for 2 months. They went out of their way to say just pay what you think its worth, and its yours. Now when it debuts as on CD, it goes in at number one. Anybody who wanted it will have downloaded it already, yet they still purchased the CD.

Personally I don't really buy CDs, as I rarely listen to music at home anymore (Mezzanine by Massive Attack has been in my CD player for months). However, surely this shows that people will pay for a physical product even if they already own a digital copy, if the product is any good? I thought the amount of talentless arseholes releasing crap was destroying* the music business myself.


* By destroying I mean making a small reduction in obscene profits
 
A

Augustus Gloop

Well-Known Forumite
It depends. One example isn't going to prove to me that 'piracy' has not had an effect on the industry and the money artists make.

There are plenty of folk out there who don't buy original copies and refuse to due to one reason and another, daft prices usually being the main one. One of the lads I know from football hasn't bought an original record in a two years and that won't be changing anytime soon.

Also, it's worth pointing out that the days of selling shed loads of copies to get to number one are long gone. That was noticable even when I worked at Mike Lloyds. We'd get mid week charts and forecasts for the weekend and by looking at the former you could see it wouldn't take much to get to the top spot. I understand that has since got worse. You could argue that that demonstrates the impact of the internet.

Slightly off topic, but I was speaking to a member of a current band not so long ago about touring and he said he makes very little money from it. Most of the time his band loses out. Any profit he makes comes from record sales but usually those sales are used - initially - to off set the losses made from being a band that's on the road a lot. He feels a lot of bands will start to cherry pick tours and reduce the amount of time they spend on the road if things don't change. Which in turn could effect record sales too.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Thats a bit of a git, I much prefer paying out to see a band than to buy a CD. Although I rarely buy music, I do go to a few gigs a year. I do a large festival and at least half a dozen normal gigs a year. Saying that, the festivals are now becoming so commercialised I'm getting bored of those too, I go more for the laugh I have with my mates than the actual music. Went to Download and the y-not festival this year and the y-not was MUCH more enjoyable (and only £30 for a 3 day camping ticket!).

Anyway, I digress. How many copies are we talking nowadays then to get to the top? My main issue nowadays is that there is rarely an album where I like more than 30% of the tracks enough to buy them. Gone are the days of Nevermind, Ten etc. where almost every track was great. Maybe I'm just getting old? The whole music industry seems so watered down, its rare I hear something and think I'd like to own it. I thought that was just me, but it seems true of a lot of people I know. Not just my age either, a lot of my friends are 5-10 years younger than me.

I suppose the internet has hit the 'meh' kind of market. The ones who think well its OK I suppose, lets give the album a try. They will now just go on the net. Any real fans though like to own the originals, and like to go to the gigs, so they still give the artists money. Although the gigs thig really gets to me now as if you can't buy a ticket in the first 30 seconds you often have to resort to ticket tout scum and stupid prices to get to see your favourite bands. But thats another rant!
 
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Augustus Gloop

Well-Known Forumite
There's plenty of good stuff out there, worth purchasing IMO, but for me I have to dig a little deeper. Most of the mainstream stuff does nothing for me these days and I wouldn't buy any of it. But here's the thing, I may download the odd bit because I didn't fancy handing over my hard earned....

I'm also a bit geeky when it comes to original copies. I like them - the whole aesthetic package interests me. Sometimes as much as the music itself. For some it's not that important hence why downloading is appealing.

As for the kind of figures needed to get to number one I can't really remember but it wasn't as many as I thought. Will try and find out.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
I guess thats my issue, the mainstream stuff sucks and I don't have the time or inclination to dig for other stuff. Unless a mate suggests something, I rarely listen to anything new. Thats why the y-not festival was so much fun I reckon, bands I'd never heard of playing whose only form of advertising was a myspace page. Plus a few of them got drunk with us in the campsite afterwards :D

Agree with the original copies thing though, if I like something I like to own the original. Most of my stuff is mid-late 90s though, not as much has appealed this century.
 
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big z

ANDY
If you really love a band you should buy their music!! i can think of a couple of reasons right now...i'm sure there are many more.

1- cos you love the music

2- so their record company doesn't drop em due to poor sales, then they can't make you anymore music. or if they are unsigned you will be helping em raise funds for recordings, fuel etc.
 
Wookie

Wookie

Official Forum Linker
Piracy is doing naff-all to *music*.
The *recording* business on the other hand...

Look at it this way. How many hundreds of years did music survive before Edison invented the phonograph? How many records do you think Niccolo Paganini sold?

To quote a wise man, "Home taping isn't killing music; music's dying of natural causes." (A prize to the first person to post the name of the wise man in question.)
 
db

db

#chaplife
Wookie said:
To quote a wise man, "Home taping isn't killing music; music's dying of natural causes." (A prize to the first person to post the name of the wise man in question.)
Click to expand...
mitch benn!

(never heard of him - what's my prize? :v: )
 
Wookie

Wookie

Official Forum Linker
dirtybobby said:
Wookie said:
To quote a wise man, "Home taping isn't killing music; music's dying of natural causes." (A prize to the first person to post the name of the wise man in question.)
Click to expand...
mitch benn!

(never heard of him - what's my prize? :v: )
Click to expand...
The prize? A lifetime's supply of oxygen. :P
And if you've never heard of Mitch Benn, do yourself a favour and do so. Have a look on YouTube. An *incredibly* funny man when on form.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
big z said:
If you really love a band you should buy their music!! i can think of a couple of reasons right now...i'm sure there are many more.

1- cos you love the music

2- so their record company doesn't drop em due to poor sales, then they can't make you anymore music. or if they are unsigned you will be helping em raise funds for recordings, fuel etc.
Click to expand...
Quick question, isn't it more a case nowadays of getting a fee for an album and very little royalties, rather than getting the majority share of each record sold? What I mean is, doesn't the label make a much larger profit on each CD than the artist?
 
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big z

ANDY
yeah no doubt...but if people aren't buying the album then i would presume the label won't keep you on..but to be honest if your on a major for instance the scope for sales is much bigger so you'd probably sell loads anyways...who knows, Ho hum
 
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