Quote:
Originally Posted by melon
No such thing.
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There are sites which legally stream content for a nominal subscription fee and ad- exposure.
I remember a certain web-based Rock radio station streaming Bat 3 for free with Meat's blessing, though as soon as you make a copy of it you are infringing copyright.
There is a market out there for someone to fulfil the role of the traditional D.J led radio station. Offer artists a reasonable depth of exposure for no initial cost to the end-user - but if you want your own copy you have to buy it to take it wherever you go and play anytime, at your own will for years to come. You-tube could potentially do that if used well - Why doesn't Meat have his own channel with high quality, carefully controlled content and "red pony" everything else???
I and others have probably used file-sharing in this way in the past - download stuff for free, listen to it once or twice and if you like it, buy a hard-copy from the store to keep forever - delete what you don't like. I can't honestly say my usage of digital media is any way different from recording tracks/ sets/features from the radio or friends collections in the 70's and 80's. I believe the WWW is getting a lot of the blame which should be going towards the increasing "mcdonaldization" and commoditisation of mainstream media. It is controlled by a few "barons" with increasing control.
Again, it is personal responsibiliby. Buy the stuff you like and turn Napsta/piratebay type sites into an asset for artists rather than a threat then they would probably still be available to use legally. At least that way the content you heard for free would be dictated by record buying communities and individuals rather than style-nazi's at record companies and media controllers.
Free to air media is increasingly limited by cultural fascists - those with monopolies who can manipulate the press and keep a lot of a lot of vacuous crap on the air with a soap-opera in the press. There is no room for creativity anymore and the "Simon Cowells" of this world dominate the mainstream. That is as much of the reason for the depression of the industry nowadays as illegal downloads. If something truly innovative ever got the chance to go viral then there would always be the desire for people to own it for themselves, and there would always be commercial opportunity for the artist through genuine sales, advertising, touring, endorsements etc....
Okay, it might not be traditional, but the commercial opportunity is potentially as great as it ever was, just not through traditional record sales. It is of course always easier for artists to attack copyright theft rather than the barons, but people have been ripping off their mates' album collections since the invention of the hi-fi through tape-dubbing and recording tape from vinyl....
There was a whole industry relating to bootleg CD's which is no longer an issue. They are traded for free amongst fans and I find it hard to believe affect official release sales in any way at-all nowadays.
It is largely a question of "adapt or die" but obviously intellectual property needs to have the same level of protection it had in the days of diverse radio stations with individual D.J. playlists and twin-deck cassette recorders.
Some have embraced this new digital era and have done well. Others haven't and complain about it.
I'm sorry, the situation is the same for everyone. You offer high quality content in the right place for the right price with the right strategy then you will make money. That simple.
It is a simple fact that there was almost as many million-selling singles in the 1990's (the years of "truly free internet") in the U.K as the 1970's. In the last 2 years, there have been 10 million-selling singles as opposed to only 15 in the whole of the 2000's. The market is still there if you can tap into it, thouh it is probably a harder sell for an artist like Meat due to demographic considerations and industry bias - and yes, age-discrimination comes into it, but Meat's target audience is much better financially estabshed and has higher spending potential than those appealing to a younger demographic - especially in times of immensely high youth unemployment. I'd say that if the product is right then in purely financial terms then Meat should be able to compete with anyone in terms of Album sales and concert tickets - IF the product is right - and I'd be going for quality over quantity right now.