1. i think the reason why big corporstion don't take risks with new artists anymore, also has a lot to do with the fact that it'll put them in a worse compitition position. investing in something that probably won't be a big commercial success, but has artistic value will therefore make your competitors stronger. and you don't want that! universal will never take a risk if it could mean that virgin or sony would benefit from their 'mistake', to not just go for a percentage of the market. these companies don't care about music, it's just business.
2. there are labels/artists that put their music online for download, what i assume, is that they assume, that it will create a need for people [after hearing the songs] to buy the cd/vinyl. by putting the music on the website as real audio, or low quality mp3. the fact remains, that if you like the song, you'll want it in good sound quality, so the real audio/mp3 format is not satisfactory, so you'll end up buying it. i think this works. if you really want the real deal, you will pay for it. as long as the downloadable material remains a lower quality then the actual product. and by giving people the oportunity to listen in advance, you can reach out a bigger audience.
jurren _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
