In the days before recording technology existed, musicians were paid to perform.
Then recording technology was invented and the record industry was born. Now musicians could get paid for making a recording and selling copies (actually, the record company could get paid- the musician got screwed, but that's another topic). A few could get paid far beyond where any musician's work can be reasonably valued. So we can say that for a while, recording technology and record company distribution allowed the recording industry to get paid, with a little left for the musicians. Technology marches on and the ease of distributing recordings has rendered the record companies and their massive distribution networks valueless. If the musicians can distribute their recordings without the record companies, who needs the record companies? They used to be a way for musicians to get paid for producing recordings, but that is no longer the case. The only reason for musicians to side with record companies these days is their hope of getting a tiny piece of the file-sharing law-suit money. What if we look at the situation this way: the era of money making on recordings has passed- it was just a fluke that it came into existence because of technology and now it's no longer viable. You can't make money selling recordings anymore because they can be passed around on the internet. Maybe it's time to just let it go and have musicians go back to getting paid to perform. They can send out recordings to promote their live performances. No record companies or lawyers needed. Yes, I know, musicians have been sold the lie of getting rich with recording companies for so long they don't want to give up their dreams of glory. But maybe they're not any different from the rest of us after all. Sure, if I could package little bits of my work and sell copies I be happy to do it, but I can't, and neither can most people. Why should making music be any different? You wanna eat? You gotta play! Pfffft! TD -- tyler_durden ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tyler_durden's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2701 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=41571 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
