
Secrets of the "New Music Industry" - zoowar
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/11/secrets-new-music-industry-old-music-industry
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epoxyhockey
As a member of an indie rock band, I can say that it is nice to see the
majority of our album sales going directly into our pockets. I can't imagine
making pennies on an album sale, though, the band completely funded the
recording studio time and production costs of both vinyl and CD, so we are
entitled to make more profit off of album sales.

But, our problem isn't making the highest profit from selling our music. The
biggest problem is how to grow our fan base and effectively reach out to new
listeners who would be interested in our sound, but haven't discovered us.

I feel like the "old music industry" had a way of solving the 2nd problem as
it seems to be analogous to winning a popularity contest and straight up
brain-washing young children into liking something by making it look or sound
cool.

Anyone can create music and get it into the iTunes store these days. The
margins are great, but you still need tons of people to like and buy your
music to actually make a living out of it.

~~~
codebaobab
My impression is that the iPhone App Store does a much better job of letting
small developers make money than the iTunes music store does of letting small
bands make money. I wonder what the core difference is?

~~~
ABrandt
I don't think small developers would be as successful on the app store had
there been a record label equivalent in place. The app industry was virtually
created with the app store. By the time iTunes came around, however, the music
industry had already been operating in its current form for ~50 years.

If there was a Warner Music of app development, their products would muscle
out indie developers just as record music does for indie music.

------
apenwarr
It's extremely frustrating to actually interpret the information in this
article and at its linked-to articles.

The basis of this article's claim is that "music purchases" are up by 50%
since 2006. Except, even ignoring revenue, a "music purchase" nowadays is
typically one song, not one album. In their own words, if an independent
artist sells two songs on iTunes, they make as much money as if they sold a
whole CD.

But selling two songs instead of one album would be a _100%_ increase in
purchases, not a 50% increase!

The numbers they give neither support nor refute their point; I have no idea
whose side I should believe. Neither, I suspect.

~~~
Trey-Jackson
The two statistics you cite are independent.

Purchases are up 50%. period. the end.

Independent of that is the fact that when an artist sells two songs on Itunes
they make as much money as if they sold a whole CD. period. the end.

The second fact does not refute first, it is orthogonal.

The point they're making is that purchases are _shifting_ from albums to
tracks (as you mention), and because of the higher revenue generated (for the
artist) by selling tracks, artists are winning in this scenario and the record
labels are losing money.

This point is clearly made in the first bullet of the EFF article.

The larger point isn't about artists at all, but that the old school music
industry is waging (and winning) a war using copyright laws, and this is
having disastrous effects on free speech. The example in the first paragraph
was about the seizure of 82 domains, without any due process, and this was
basically because the government enforced (without question) the claims of the
music industry.

Imagine if it happened to you, your domain was seized because a company with
some lawyers said it was infringing on their copyright. Think you'd be miffed?

Other countries are enacting 3-strikes laws (e.g. France), where if you were
accused of copyright violation (downloading illegal mp3/mp4) 3 times (accused,
not even convicted), then your IP is blocked, and you can no longer access the
internet from that connection.

And the EFF is saying that the music industry is getting these kinds of
legislation passed on the false premise that "piracy" is harming artists'
livelihoods, when in fact margins on money from sales of music is _increasing_
for artists.

Obviously you can disagree with their points, but the facts they've presented
do not conflict.

