Re: now music and economics.. .

[Zenswhen <bushchoked@xxxxxxxxx>]

>"My dad couldn't stand on two feet as he lectured about morality"
"It's all here in my head, nothing more needs to be said"
"I don't need to fight, to *prove* I'm right"

Kevin:

ALL better than the ones in YBYB, IMHO.

>Kimba rocked!

He was a second rate Astro Boy. I'm tellin' ya.

>I was kind of alarmed to see that report last week that Sony was laying off  workers. 

Lela:

There are factors involved. First of all, the economy is in the crapper. CDs are a luxury item. Vacations, too, are way off...living in a vacation destination, that's painfully clear to me and has been for the last two summers as well. Then, too, there's the selfish and short-sighted music downloaders. I guess they don't care if there's any more artists to MAKE music.

>amounted to 7.2 percent in the first six months of 2002. That's pretty radical.

Actually, it was 10% the year before. I don't know if your figure is in addition to or not.

>the advent of file sharing, they've lost control of this, and now their business model is going to fail.

What's sad about that is it's not from fair competition. If the downloaders "win," we all lose...the artists first of all. But it's not the labels' fault people are stealing. And I wonder who is now going to be expected to promote the product. You know, ads in Billboard, getting radio stations to play the songs, etc. Finding the artists, developing them, financing them, producing them, promoting them. The label does ALL of that right now, and it ain't cheap.

>This is because what the artists are asking for 
is not a workable system.

For every one band a label makes money with, there is about 20 that cost the same but don't make it. I really can't see the artists' problem with developing talent. The labels are doing the best they can (you know, they DO want to make money and the more artists the more money they make), and also have to deal with the fact that Rock music is dead and has been at least since 1974. Still they cling, and it's become ridiculous. There isn't anything new and exciting going on there. Rap is at least 25 years old, too, and a very limited form. Alt. Country (as a trend) is merely a nostalgic moment. What's fresh and new at this point? Hard to be on top of things when the flavor of the month lasts only a few weeks. And there are immediately tons of sound-alikes on hand to burn out the style.

With the lack of new product comes innovations in sound for the old stuff...like the remixed Who CDs, and the SACD releases. Remastering, bonus tracks, boxed sets.

>However, sales of music *DVDs* has risen sharply over the past year.

Scott:

With the lower DVD player prices, and the availabilty of more titles.

>We may see a shift by the record companies to invest more money in music DVDs 

I know I've been selling used DVDs here for about two years now.

>found that it came equipped with a DVD burner...

Jon:

I have one too. Right now, at least, it's still a limited format. Blanks are about $3 per (cheapest I've found) and they only hold about an hour and 50 minutes (although I understand with some programs you can have lessor quality and longer time, just like with a VCR).


"I can kill 'cause in God I trust/It's evolution, baby "
                               Eddie Vedder

                 Cheers             ML
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