Over the years, I've read statements on illegal downloading from members of various bands, and opinions seem to be all over the place. Some bands just don't seem to care (Chumbawumba) and then there are bands that care a lot (Metallica).
From the listener POV, I've seen a wide gamut of different reasons / excuses for downloading music illegally. Oddly, it's not the matter of money that seems to be the biggest issue, but rather the fact that bands just don't see much cash from actual album sales. I don't think that fact can be argued too much, as most record labels drain a lot of revenue for their own pockets and other marketing, usually leaving the band itself with a small percentage of the sale.Instead, it's touring that tends to pay the bands well in the end.
I watched an interview the other day with George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher of Cannibal Corpse, and his thoughts on things kind of struck me because I heard a couple of arguments that just aren't that common. He stated that it's the band that has to pay directly for a lot of things, such as a tour bus, and without album sales, things like that are just not going to be possible.
Based on that fact, I am kind of led to believe that Metal Blade records (their label) doesn't horde as much as the cash as a label under the RIAA umbrella would. Another thought though, is that if a band isn't able to sell a bunch of records, then it's going to be harder to book shows. After all, if you are a concert planner, are you going to pursue a band that sold a mere 1,000 copies of its latest album? Based on that metric alone, it'd appear that the band has no appeal, when in truth, it might have huge fanbase.
For a band like CC, I'd be far more apt to purchase the album, because I'm confident that the band is going to see some of the cash. I don't have that same sort of confidence when purchasing a mainstream album (of which are few). Mainstream artists (Rihanna, Britney Spears, Adele, et cetera) are obviously very rich, but actual album sales likely have very little to do with this. 1,000,000 album sales at $15 a pop, or playing to 1,000,000 people for $60 a pop?
Smaller bands don't usually charge near as much per show, and if they do see a significant portion of the proceeds from their album sales, then it's easy to see and probably understand George's point-of-view.
One trick I have learned though, is that if you do wish to see the band get as much money as possible, it's best to see if there is a direct purchase option, rather than going through a reseller. I always do this whenever possible, and believe it or not, there are many bands that sell music this way (The Thermals is one band I always buy music direct from).
What do you guys think?
From the listener POV, I've seen a wide gamut of different reasons / excuses for downloading music illegally. Oddly, it's not the matter of money that seems to be the biggest issue, but rather the fact that bands just don't see much cash from actual album sales. I don't think that fact can be argued too much, as most record labels drain a lot of revenue for their own pockets and other marketing, usually leaving the band itself with a small percentage of the sale.Instead, it's touring that tends to pay the bands well in the end.
I watched an interview the other day with George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher of Cannibal Corpse, and his thoughts on things kind of struck me because I heard a couple of arguments that just aren't that common. He stated that it's the band that has to pay directly for a lot of things, such as a tour bus, and without album sales, things like that are just not going to be possible.
Based on that fact, I am kind of led to believe that Metal Blade records (their label) doesn't horde as much as the cash as a label under the RIAA umbrella would. Another thought though, is that if a band isn't able to sell a bunch of records, then it's going to be harder to book shows. After all, if you are a concert planner, are you going to pursue a band that sold a mere 1,000 copies of its latest album? Based on that metric alone, it'd appear that the band has no appeal, when in truth, it might have huge fanbase.
For a band like CC, I'd be far more apt to purchase the album, because I'm confident that the band is going to see some of the cash. I don't have that same sort of confidence when purchasing a mainstream album (of which are few). Mainstream artists (Rihanna, Britney Spears, Adele, et cetera) are obviously very rich, but actual album sales likely have very little to do with this. 1,000,000 album sales at $15 a pop, or playing to 1,000,000 people for $60 a pop?
Smaller bands don't usually charge near as much per show, and if they do see a significant portion of the proceeds from their album sales, then it's easy to see and probably understand George's point-of-view.
One trick I have learned though, is that if you do wish to see the band get as much money as possible, it's best to see if there is a direct purchase option, rather than going through a reseller. I always do this whenever possible, and believe it or not, there are many bands that sell music this way (The Thermals is one band I always buy music direct from).
What do you guys think?
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) and TBH that price isnt too bad due to it being a smaller theater, tickets are ~ half of the price of AMC tickets.