i dont know but is this how most people think about the music industry? i think its one of the most ignorant songs ive heard. this isnt a bashing thread, i just dont know how this guy thinks the industry works. http://www.myspace.com/mclars

http://mp3download.myspace.com/index.cf ... e=Download T&fid=2919727

I didn't listen, but I read the lyrics. I'm not sure I'd call it entirely ignorant..it's not a balanced perspective, but it does have some point to make.

I think there is a valid point in the fact that the music industry has fundamentally changed, and maybe there is a valid argument that chasing some of these young kids for downloading some songs is not going to the root of the problem. Without trying to spark of the downloading debate again, I will say that there is a big difference between many of the bands that people on these boards know and love and some of the most mainstream of bands on major labels, who seem to be the only ones benefiting from the legal action being taken.

As I said, this is certainly not a balanced view, and that's not to say that I agree with what he's saying, but ultimately, there's nothing wrong with taking that perspective along with others.

the thing is not every band in the world makes as much as U2, Coldplay 50 Cent, Madonna etc. and alot of these bands rely on album sales to fund tours, living, a studio album etc.

ill admit i download songs, but if i like what i hear, i buy it. however there are people that download an unbeleivable amount of music that they wont even be able to listen to in their life.

the irony is this guy has released an album too and he expects people to buy it? hes kinda shoot himself in the foot in that case too

The thing is, that was how I interpreted it, as mainly an attack on those major labels..maybe I've got it wrong though.

I totally think it's wrong to download music (I don't do it at all), but there are some very young people who have been targetted for legal action who may not have been fully aware of the consequences, and ultimately, by doing so, it could be argued that the major labels are actually alienating the people who will become their main customers soon.

I'm not saying I agree with that perspective, but I think it's part of the overall balance of the various arguments

I only steal major label music. Fuck them.
The industry needs to die and be born again as a network of independent DIY rhizomatic cells.

We don't need an industry structure where a handful get rich, far too many middlemen get paid and 99% of artists get screwed.

Personally I find that the people who download music wouldn't be buying it in the first place. If they didn't have downloading, they'd either be getting tapes off of their friends, or just listening to a few albums over and over again.

A lot of the more underground bands people here listen to do not get much of royalties from their record labels as far as I know, they usually just get funded to record the album but won't make much profit if it sells well. I know this isn't the case for all of them but for quite a few I think thats the way it is. This doesn't stop me from buying albums, because if you don't buy albums the record companies will sign less bands and so their will be less music out there. Even if there are a lot a of middlemen getting paid, you are still supporting the arts in general, if not a specific artist.

As for the song, it seems to be about majors just suing .0001% of people who download music in an attempt to try and scare the rest into stop doing it. Essentially all they're going to do is ruin a few peoples lives and not otherwise gain from it. I actually think he is right though that in a few years you will just have bands practically releasing their music for free over the internet, and I couldn't be more for it because that will make it so much easier for people with only a passing interest in music to discover more underground, better bands. And if people want to support the band they can go see them in concert and buy a t-shirt or something.

One thing I think is interesting in regards to music and the internet is that you can build up a whole community around your band, and a lot of people in it will buy your record, with myspace. Maynard and Adam from Tool brought it up in their interview with bbc and I thought it was an interesting way of looking at it.

McLars is a joke, he played manchester with my friends band and ruined alot of equipment.

I found this pretty funny:

"The Graduate. In Stores Now!"

Personally I find that the people who download music wouldn't be buying it in the first place. If they didn't have downloading, they'd either be getting tapes off of their friends, or just listening to a few albums over and over again.

Agreed.

This doesn't stop me from buying albums, because if you don't buy albums the record companies will sign less bands and so their will be less music out there. Even if there are a lot a of middlemen getting paid, you are still supporting the arts in general, if not a specific artist.

I know labels make a lot of things easier, but they are a dying model. There's this wonderful argument about how disco paved the way for punk because prior to disco no pressing plant would take an order to press records unlesss it came from a label. Disco was a ridiculous boom in the record industry, millions of albums were pressed and then sold bugger all. The pressing plants were all on the edge of bankruptcy and from then on would pretty much take any custom at all. Just one example of how prior to 1975, you couldn't get you music out there AT ALL without a label. Fastforward through thirty years of DIY, add in the internet, labels are fast becoming an irrelvency attempting promotion through means they barely understand to increasingly splintered demographics...

As for 'supporting the arts'... people made music for tens of thousands of years before we started putting it on little discs and treating it as a commodity, and they will continue to do it and call it art even when (and especially when) they aren't getting paid much for it. Also giving money to a big label isn't helping any underground band at all, unless it's a previously underground band who are making uncommercial music which on a cold day in hell might actually convince the evil fucks to sign something with fucking balls.

I think we're going to see less of superstar money flying around, big labels are going to become increasing conservative in what they sign and create, (though possibly even more desparate at the same time) but hopefully a new model will emerge that will make it will be easier for musicians to get their music out there and turn a bit of a buck.

To be honest, downloading music makes very little difference to artist income, they get their money from merch and shows, even the best of record companies take the majority of the money from record sales. Downloads have little impact on artist income.

I myself download a lot of music, sometimes in wait of the album coming out, sometimes because I don't like a band enough to justify spending £10 on a cd, but all the bands I really like I own the cds of (if I can find them, Lykathea Aflame are impossible to get).

yes but if the artist doesnt sell many cds beacuse people are downloading them, it effects what record companies think and therefore the might not sign them up for another few albums for example. if record companies continue to lose more money they will sign less bands and therefore many bands are laid off.

Oldie, but a goodie:
http://www.negativland.com/albini.html