Re: Who's Missing & Two's Missing & Courtney & Jedi

["L. Bird" <pkeets@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> >If the situation is so bad for the record companies, then they need to go 
> out of business.
>
> So...you're OK with someone stealing someone else's stuff until it drives 
> them out of business?
The comment I answered was about their costs of doing business.  If they 
can't pay their costs and still make a decent profit, then they should go 
out of business.  They've been in a monopoly position for about 40 years, so 
they may have a slightly warped idea of what constitutes a decent profit.  
They've been able to dictate terms to the artists they represent.

Now they're looking at a competitive situation, and it seems to me they're 
resorting to underhanded methods that will eventually fail.  They're trying 
hard to control the Internet distribution channels and to solidify their 
hold on artists, but there must be a number of complaints, as I think the 
industry is being investigated for various anti-competitive and anti-trust 
violations.



> >companies do for artists. Unless the artist is handling it (like Pete off 
> Eelpie.com), then the cds are as much a give-away as radio time.
>
> I notice Pete is still selling his CDs for the regular price. And anyway, 
> it's easy for Pete because he's an established artist. What about the bands 
> who are currently in bars? They have no chance. When was the time a band 
> got big? Creed? And they're going out now. The Strokes, White Stripes, 
> BRMC, they're all already over before they got started.
There are other methods of selling and promoting music.  A year or so ago 
there were several of these taking shape on the Internet with the apparent 
intent to sign new artists, but the record companies have moved to cut them 
off.  I haven't seen any development for a while now.



> But it wasn't the cds that financed the farm--The Who went broke when they 
> stopped touring.
>
> I don't know that the labels can be held responsible for how an artist 
> spends his/her money. I do know, having been a roadie for a major band, 
> that the tours were money-losers done ONLY to promote album sales. Pete 
> even complained about this somewhere, citing the (to him) endless cycle of 
> putting out an album followed by a tour to promote it.
I thought touring was where artists made most of their money, though some 
are more profitable than others.  Roger did comment that QUAD barely broke 
even because of the high cost of the show and the number of performers.

It may be true that in their heyday, The Who made lots of money from their 
albums, but once they'd stopped touring to promote the music, then sales 
dropped off to a steady (but apparently dependable) level.  At one time, it 
was probably a good income, but inflation would tend to reduce that over a 
20 year period.



> >This is because John and Roger (without the extra
> songwriter's cut) don't make enough from the cds to break even. The cds 
> have always been a bum deal.
>
> What do you mean, "break even?" They had to put out no funds or even time 
> for the Who CDs to sell, and surely they were paid for these sales...the 
> agreed-upon amount, which was negotiated to their agreement with their 
> music world status in mind. If you mean their solo albums, they DID have 
> songwriting money...but again, it's not the label's fault if the music 
> wasn't wanted by the people. That would mean even the label lost money on 
> them, making my earlier point about how many unsuccessful bands a label has 
> to support.
I mean they have to pay their costs of living and doing business in general. 
 If John wants to continue as a musician instead of going back to work in 
the tax office, then he needs to break even on his musical career.  It's the 
same for him as for record companies--some of his more profitable work goes 
to pay for the less profitable ventures.



> if she's so upset with the industry, why don't she just quit?
>
> Right! Who died and made her a business expert? I wonder if she can even 
> grasp the concept of the Geffen (her label) payroll!
I rather liked her stance.  I approve of artists getting more money than 
their distributors.


keets

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