Cd Sales

[gisellebebegirl 0]

I was wondering what were your toughts on the future of singers/artists with cd sales decreasing so much, due to downloads/internet, is there really a way to measure how much people like a persons music anymore? what are you supposed to do? do you go to limewire's offices, and demand for a ratio of the times each song was downloaded? it seems like there is no way to stop this, i mean think about it, how many of you actually own cds/boom box/cd player? no one huhits all about mp3s and ipods nowwill singers give up in the future? since there is no way for them to become big rich superstars anymore?what about record labels? are those out of the story too? no cds: no need for record labelswill youtube become the next big way to see how famous you are?myspace? should myspace be paying artists? i mean they are one of the reasons people have a myspace/visit itand the myspace owners, earn millions! when people visit myspace (avertisement adsence, im sure you are all familiar with those terms)are we back to the dream of the girl president? instead of the next britney spears flashing her underwear on the streets?/giselle

[rayzoredge 2]

CD sales are decreasing due to piracy, but that doesn't mean there won't be fans.Fans go to concerts and shows. Those in turn make quite a bit of revenue. I'm not sure how much goes to the artists themselves, but I'm sure it's a pretty penny.CD sales may be decreasing, but there are legitimate download sites that still price songs and albums.YouTube is definitely a way for people to make their "15 minutes of fame" noted and made available to anyone with an Internet connection. And you know how many memes and people have made their debut on YouTube...I don't see why MySpace should be paying for artists. Don't the artists themselves sign up for the service and use it as a venue to attract fans and a fan base (if they're new)? It would be great, but I don't see the necessity... or the incentive for MySpace to do it.News Corp. owns MySpace... they already make millions off of their other investments and whatever they do. (Sorry... I'm ignorant of them... ) Myspace is just another source of cash flow... and if big companies don't give much of a hoot to the underdog now, assimilating smaller entities will probably not change their mind on the matter.There is the rising problem of being an artist because of these points you made, but instead of giving up, artists are going to have to find creative ways to reach out to their fans in order to generate income. (For instance, artists in Brazil encourage piracy by passing out free CDs to grow an audience for their concerts and shows, as well as establish a presence in the music industry.)

[craz 0]

I agree with rayzoredge, but Im sure with techonology these days they will consider the "cd" a "cassette tape".

[hippiman 0]

I found this site once (I don't remember what it was) where they had a perfect idea for that. They had a system made up, where artists would put their music on it, and when people wanted the song, they would only have to pay a fraction of a penny for it. Then, at the end of the month, they would have to pay the people they got the music from that much, plus some base fee for being a user of the system, and they would completely own the song. They could make copies of it if they wanted, but they couldn't give them to friends or whatever, unless they bought the song again for them.Then, no one would really have the incentive to pirate music, because it would always be so cheap. And even if everyone that got a song only had to pay a fraction of a penny to own it, the artists would still make a lot of money, if they did good. If you really want to go out of your way to steal a song that costs less than a penny, then you must not think the song is worth less than a penny, and there would be no reason to steal it, or there is just something wrong with you.It might be kind of hard to set up in the first place, and it would be really easy for people to pirate the music, but no one would have a reason to.And if anyone else has seen the site I'm talking about (that had this idea), let me know, or post the link to it. I stumbleUpon'd it a while ago, but I don't remember where it was.

[MickE 0]

I do download music (most of the time full cds) myself, but most of the time it's to check if I like the album, I don't want to spend 15 euros (or more) on an album I don't really like. And sometimes it's too hard to find the album in a store (like the Evans Blue albums) which is really sad! I wouldn't mind paying for the album cause I like to support people who do good things (making good music in this case)I like the idea hippiman gave, really cheap music is good! (and maybe even give the option of giving more money if you really appreciate what the artist is doing) kind of like what radiohead did with their latest album.but it might be hard to set up such a service. Once you can hear music on your computer, you can rip it and copy it as much times as you want, there's no hard thing about that, piracy will continue to exist, even if you have to pay 1ct for a full album, some people will refuse to pay for it, I know that for a fact!just my 2 cents

[gisellebebegirl 0]

I do download music (most of the time full cds) myself, but most of the time it's to check if I like the album, I don't want to spend 15 euros (or more) on an album I don't really like. And sometimes it's too hard to find the album in a store (like the Evans Blue albums) which is really sad! I wouldn't mind paying for the album cause I like to support people who do good things (making good music in this case)
I like the idea hippiman gave, really cheap music is good! (and maybe even give the option of giving more money if you really appreciate what the artist is doing) kind of like what radiohead did with their latest album.

but it might be hard to set up such a service. Once you can hear music on your computer, you can rip it and copy it as much times as you want, there's no hard thing about that, piracy will continue to exist, even if you have to pay 1ct for a full album, some people will refuse to pay for it, I know that for a fact!

just my 2 cents

yea, but when you think about it, a CD was sort of like a tape, but mp3s, are pretty much taking over
im sure singers can be rich, by using their fame to sell clothing, concerts, autographcs idk
there is always crazy fans out there like me obviously.. i run several fansites.. anywhooo

limewire & download sites (that are free) are mostly the cause of that... and i doubt people
would pay the one cent to download the album! most people dont have creditcards & suchhh

but... also, avertisement, sites could actuly allow people to download music for free
but they will have to pay the singers, for the mp3s. from the ads money ofcourse

since im sure they will be making a lot of money from the ads, & all the page views! i mean yea

love music

[cemeteryrecords 0]

I own a small record label so I got a bit of info. Most artists only get 5-7 cents per CD, So even though CD are slipping(and eventually disappear) The artist isn't loosing too much. As for shows, 50% goto Label, then of the other 50% its between the artist and manager, usually and 10% to manager. Which is still alot of money to the artist, show wise. But look at those numbers...If you've ever seen "Cribs" on MTV, look what the artists have, imagine what the labels have. I mean, 50 Cent had a mantion and like 5 lambos, an accual theater in his house, not even to metion everything else, and he was getting only about 6% of CD sales...so tip the scale to the label getting 96%..and HOLY *BLEEP*! Now factor in shows...wow.

[contactskn 2]

Dear friend you are absolutely right as its really a tough time for singers and their income has drastically decreased in last few years due to the increased usage of mp3s etc. But what to do. Every technique rather new techniques have its pluses and minuses along side. And thats what is effecting out here.?

[networker 0]

Unfortunately people really do expect music for free.They don'tcare that there is expense involved in making it(recording,musicalinstruments cost etc). At all levels this seem to be a factor.Even with live gigs.I rememberplaying during the 1980's and sometimes making in one night whatsome people would make in a week from a normal job. That would be about impossible for a local bar band to do today. The people who run the bars and clubs today have caught on andwon't commit themselves like they used to. People seem more inclined to buy cd's if it has Sony or EMIwritten on it.They listen to the hype machine.It makes itreally tough for independant artists. I hate to sound depressing but one should still play music if one loves music.It's not easy.

[y4nzi 0]

Unfortunately the trading of mp3's over the net is here to stay and you can't really control it. I still remember when napster first started and there was the law suit about copyright infringement and so on. The problem is once you have an mp3 you're free to copy it, send it to your friends, do whatever you want with it. It will be very hard to control.Personally I download albums to see if I like the songs. I have a really big CD collection (which alot of people laugh at because they all keep telling me 'you can get it for free!') But I like feeling like I'm supporting an artist I like.As for buying mp3's I still prefer having the CD. After I own a CD, I can rip it into an mp3 format and put it on my ipod etc. It's almost like having a backup for the songs I like. I mean if I download an mp3 and my HD crashes, what next? I've lost my songs!Still I think record companies will eventually turn to mp3 sales more and more. It's more feasible, cheaper and it seems to be the trend nowadays.

[Tks 0]

There are more visionary artists that have taken up with online piracy and offere their stuff online by themselves. No matter how much the piracy increases there will always be people who are gonna buy the CD's or get the songs off of the song website where you can buy one song from any artist for a small amount of fee. Also as rayzoredge mentioned, CD sales is not the only method of generating the revenue for the artists. There are always live performances and concerts that are a huge way of money generations and mostly covers up for whats lost.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

CD sales are decreasing due to piracy, but that doesn't mean there won't be fans.
Fans go to concerts and shows. Those in turn make quite a bit of revenue. I'm not sure how much goes to the artists themselves, but I'm sure it's a pretty penny.

CD sales may be decreasing, but there are legitimate download sites that still price songs and albums.

YouTube is definitely a way for people to make their "15 minutes of fame" noted and made available to anyone with an Internet connection. And you know how many memes and people have made their debut on YouTube...

I don't see why MySpace should be paying for artists. Don't the artists themselves sign up for the service and use it as a venue to attract fans and a fan base (if they're new)? It would be great, but I don't see the necessity... or the incentive for MySpace to do it.

News Corp. owns MySpace... they already make millions off of their other investments and whatever they do. (Sorry... I'm ignorant of them... ) Myspace is just another source of cash flow... and if big companies don't give much of a hoot to the underdog now, assimilating smaller entities will probably not change their mind on the matter.

There is the rising problem of being an artist because of these points you made, but instead of giving up, artists are going to have to find creative ways to reach out to their fans in order to generate income. (For instance, artists in Brazil encourage piracy by passing out free CDs to grow an audience for their concerts and shows, as well as establish a presence in the music industry.)

There was a study somewhere, if I can find it I will post it later on, where they found out that the downloading of music has actually *increased* sales.

The principle is pretty simple, really.

Those who pirate the songs probably wouldn't have bought a full CD anyways, being that most do it because they want one or two songs, and why pay $10 for it(the one song)?

But, by them doing that, they allow others to hear the song as well, and it's a sort of free advertising.

This study was actually done before broadband was owned by everyone, so I'm not sure if it still pertains to now, but it was still a pretty cool one.

Also, a lot of people will buy cd's if they really like the songs/artists anyways.

The number of people actually pirating songs and aren't contributing at all are very slim.