[oclug] Music Downloading and Copyright

[Stephen M. Webb]

On Saturday, April 03 2004 17:15, psaz at rogers.com wrote:
>
> But face the facts, in the past, artists deserved the money
> they made from their music. 

I, and I think most people, agree with that sentiment.  What most people don't 
realize is that there is not correlation between what you pay an 
multinational CD distribution conglomerate for your CD and any money the 
artists responsible for its creation earn.

Most recording artists (a term which includes the songwriters, lyricists, 
performers, and producers) actually lose money on a CD.  It's amazing how 
creative accounting can be to produce a 100,000-selling CD in Canada and not 
turn a profit.  It's much like the movie industry (did you know no Hollywood 
movie has ever actually made a profit, despite huge grosses), except that 
actors and screenwriter are not usually required by the studios to repay the 
cost of making and promoting a movie before they see any royalties.

No, before you shed a tear for the victims of downloading consider who they 
are, and how big a dent in their office decorating budget it makes in their 
head offices in Frankfurt, Tokyo, or Los Angeles, and how much is offset by 
our government  taxing computer software media and delivering the proceeds to 
the corporate coffers.

DISCLAIMER:  I am not condoning downloading.  I have never downloaded music or 
commercial software (on 56k dialup, who are you kidding).  I am merely 
pointing out that most people are mislead as to who experiences loss from 
downloading.  I am a musician, and I know a lot of recording artists, none of 
whom are negative towards downloading.


-- 
Stephen M. Webb
stephen.webb at bregmasoft.com