MP3 Testimonial 38
This is a bit different for Slashdot, but I wanted to
post it anyway. Matt Terich
writes "
A few months back I was guilty of slamming the mp3 community for it's
(stereotypical) lack of respect of an artist's copyright. You see, I'm in
an unsigned rock band and well... was being extremely defensive (mostly
against the "I can pirate music because CD's are too expensive" crowd.) Of
course, I was flamed... and flamed... and flamed. There were, however, a
few constructive posts from /.ers. After some serious thought I posted a
few of our tunes in mp3 format at our site ,
and then put them up at mp3.com (to give it a try and see what happened.)
Now we're getting email from people all over the country asking us for CD's
and asking us to tour through their necks of the woods. It's nuts I tells
ya. Anyway, just wanted to give shouts out to the site. We'll see what
happens."
This guy will be famous in an hour! (Score:0)
Another Convert! (Score:0)
and am I first?
Vitriol (hey drew!)
Now if more where like you (Score:0)
Most
To you guys, good luck with your career.
What MP3 are for (Score:0)
Ok, there are always people who will collect hundreds of complete albums in mp3. I consider them on the same level of people that trade copyright software. I'm not saying they're jerks, that they diserve the death sentence or anything!
But then you can also download MP3 to discover about a new band. I had never really heard a lot of depeche mode music. I got a some mp3s of them, I loved it and bought a few CDs immediately. So for that MP3 are really a help for both the artists and the consumers. Same for New Order. That was my big dive back in the 80s!
The other reason I think mp3s are cool is to protect consumers against crap bands that will make one hit that's always on the radio and release a CD with that one hit and 90% of the remaining tracks on the album that completely suck. I've grown tired of bands like that...
So I really hope MP3 sites will stay there, but they won't offer whole albums, rather just a few songs so you can get a taste of the band.
enabling technology (Score:0)
I have many mp3 files of live recordings of the Dave Matthews Band (who view taping in the same way that the Dead do). From the media hysteria, I can imagine a situation where the IT people in my company scan HD's for mp3's and outlaw their use in the name of legal compliance. Incidentally, I own all of the DMB CD's, and will certainly be buying more, not less, due to the distribution of their music on mp3's. Not to mention being more likely to pay $$ to see a concert if I know that a group is really strong live.
The cat's out of the bag. The RIAA can go ahead and support new encrypted schemes for the purchasing of "protected" works, fine. Hey, I'll buy some songs individually if offered for less than the price of a largely-mediocre CD. However, they can't take away mp3's any more than they could take away cassette tapes, DAT's, or CD-Rs...
Glad to see the net & mp3 empowering those who want to be heard without selling their soul to the bean counters....
THANKYOU!! AMEN, and PLEEEASE consider ... (Score:0)
we int the open-source software community are finding this out too...
My MP3 story... (Score:0)
By the end of August, I had bought five Satriani CDs. It's ironic that the RIAA has made quite a bit of money from me thanks to MP3.
Since then, I've encoded almost my entire CD collection as MP3s. To pirate? No. To protect my investment!
You see, the RIAA might have you believe that there is no legitimate reason to make an MP3 from a recording on CD. I humbly disagree. With my music collection in MP3 format stored on CD-R, I take the MP3s to work leaving my CD collection safe at home. Now, if someone were to walk into my office and steal my music collection (it's sad, but such things DO happen), all I have really lost was the time spent on encoding and the cost of the CD-R media itself. Contrast this with someone stealing 50 music CDs at $12 to $15 per CD.
Enjoy it while you can (Score:0)
I for one agree that the mp3 format is the best thing since peanut butter, and we must do everything we can to stop the RIAA money-whores from spoonfeeding us their shit.
Adrian Henke
http://www.mp3.com/havana
The music is still copyrighted. (Score:0)
but this is free as in beer, not free as in speech. I know because I'm also in Ms. America's Trash.
MP3's and record industry (Score:0)
But how much of the cost of a CD goes into production/distribution?
Most of my MP3's are from my CD's. And just about the only time
I listen to them are when I'm working on my computer. I'd be happy just
to buy the MP3's and forgo the cost of Production/Distribution.
What do record companies do anyway?
Promotion/Distribution/Production anything else?
Justified Piracy? I Think So.. (Score:0)
Though I've also done what so many others here are talking about. I've often times hopped on a website, seen a directory named for an artist I've heard a bit of a buzz about, and downloaded some as my initial exposure to the material. Sometimes I dislike it and delete it, but many times its helped me discover music I became a big fan of.
Examples: I've never heard an Aphex Twin song on the radio, but I now have a few of his CD's. The same goes for Delerium, Joy Division, Tom Waits, I'm sure others which I fail to remember at this time.
THE INDUSTRY HAS MADE MORE MONEY FROM ME DUE TO MP3!!!!! Yeesh, I feel better now... I sure wish they'd listen though...
-Lars Morgan
Actually doesn't matter (Score:0)
1) I've still got MP3's. I can keep the 8hz and mpg123 source around until the patent expires.
2) I can also choose to avoid the big brand names. MP3s and other formats (Even non-encoded
Enjoy it while you can (Score:0)
If there is one thing that will replace this sort of pure marketing inefficiency, the net will. The net will connect an artist directly (or alot closer), time and per chance wise, than any corporate marketing ever will in the enar future.
why would an artist want to dream about selling 200.000 copies of a single album as one time shot (won't be republish again)
or selling 1.000.000 copies of songs (not albums) and doing little tours and life performance by requests of audiances over his entire lifetime.
It is jsut a shift of mindset with internet rerouting the fatal data barrier of corporate marketing.
MP3 isn't the problem (Score:0)
No Subject Given (Score:0)
its a fine balance... (Score:0)
plus i've bought so many cd's for one song... its rather a ripoff...
just looking at my collection right now, i'd say that i have about 2/3 of these songs on cd (bought)... not too bad for a nights' downloading (56k people - 15 mp3's make a night)
A question. (Score:0)
The only way to regulate the contents of the network is to regulate the network itself -- and that's proven to be sufficiently insurmountable so far. I'd imagine if somehow The Man were to find a way to impose his law upon the wire, the technology would simply move out from under the government's bootheel.
free (Score:0)
MP3s aren't worth it (Score:0)
Downloading MP3s isn't worth it, unless it's just a sampler from a band I've never heard before. I'd much rather hear an mp3 sample then go buy the CD from the store. Of course, I'll then convert it to MP3, but that's just because having the song held on computer is far more convenient. Artists should not be afraid of MP3. It's still cheaper to buy a pre-pressed CD, especially if you're not in one of the top 40 (puke) $29.95 artists.
I suppose other people have cheaper bandwidth, or one of those unlimited accounts. And I guess that MP3s are much cheaper to exchange between friends. But surely this is no different to bootlegging of tapes.
MP3s helps those relatively unknown bands selling $10 CDs. I first heard about Liquid via MP3, then found out they are Australian based, and straight away bought their $10 album and went to their gig at a local pub. The bands it hurts are the people like Five and Steps and Backdoor Boys. Bands that sell crap at overinflated prices and will soon be
in the $5 bins when they stop being "popular". It is in the music industry's best interests to keep such bands unheard of by any means but CD because nobody would ever want to buy this crap once they get past puberty.
The problem with MP3 (according to the RIAA) (Score:0)
ah crap.
The RIAA has quite clearly stated that the problem with MP3 is they do not know how to break a new artist with this format of music coexisting. I don't understand their rationale, but I do know that the general public is rather sick of listening to the same god awful song on the radio. Maybe music prosperred and started selling ungodly amounts of music when they kept playing the same song over and over in the 70's, but it doesn't seem to work in the 90's.
In the 90's its about variety. You want to break new artists, tell the damn commercial stations to stop playing the same songs. I am forced to listen to radio beneath 92.1 MHz (mainly because my hooptie only has AM/FM radio). But its pretty obvious that what the younger generation wants is a lot of music, not a lot of one friggin' song. I think the frat boys might have a problem with that, but then again they've got their head so far up their anus they don't know what light is.
-simon
mp3's are not entirely about piracy (Score:0)
My MP3 story... (Score:0)
MP3s and their magical effects? (Score:0)
So I would disagree with you there is nothing wrong with MP3 or the pirating effect, it just that your music sucks.
Rich
Oops - to honor GPL is to honor a copyright (Score:1)
You are right about GPL being a copyright, but it's essentially a copyright designed to curtail the other copyrights by making its own little world without copyrights. In other words, as long as you are within the little world (release under GPL), copyrights don't really exist. GPL is there because other copyrights exist--if copyrighting weren't common, then GPL would definitely not exist.
I was wrong too until yesterday (Score:1)
I didn't have a clue or care about mp3 until yesterday. I thought that it was just another format that sounded like AM radio out in the desert or scratchy realaudio. I decide on a whim to see what all the fuss was about and downloaded a player. Well needless to say I am convert. I can see why the RIAA are really peeing their pants everyday.
It is not hard to remember a new format scaring an industry. Look at VHS videotape. When that first came out the studios were crowing big time about home videotapers. Now it represents the majority of income for any movie, and allows the public access to movies not in general release, and lesser known movies also.
It seems that there will always be a group of people that don't give a second thought to stealing intellectual property, whether it is selling cracked copies of photoshop, posting game cartridge code, or giving taped copies of cds to friends.
Mp3s could level the playing field. No longer do you have to be "a star" to get your music listened to. It seems to me that's what freedom of speech is all about. I think that the founding fathers would be proud.
Don't record companies know that I understand that it costs them only $.35 to press a cd? The other fifteen dollars go to people who put their greasey hands on it just once between the store and the studio.
The biggest crock is that with a few exceptions none of the money really goes to the musicians. I remember one Christian music artist lamenting this very fact five years ago. Finally her and other lesser known artists will get paid fairly for the work they put forth.
I got to be honest - I think that the industry is shouting "pirates!" only because they see the writing on the wall. The consumer will be demanding value and choice in a free marketplace.
As a consumer of music I would like to see music that is out of print accessible again, and I would like to hear music that I might not normally hear. Mp3 could make that dream live. I certainly would be willing to pay for it also.
I got to be honest, I am too lazy to hassle with pirating cds and would rather pay on some secure server somewhere for somebody to send me a copy of some legal music. And I would like to have a copy of my favorite music off different albums, but you know I don't have the time to do it and would rather go to somebody's web page and pay them a few bucks and have them do it for me. And maybe they could let me pick up a one or two new tracks while I am at it from a similar genre of music that I am interested in - and if I like it I'll buy the whole album.
You know I downloaded this "house beat" music and I don't normally listen to this music but this tune is catchy. I just might keep it and listen to it once in a while. I don't think I will buy their album as I prefer classical music. But I think that it is catchy enough that I will take it into work and let others listen to it - I'll tell them the web page so they can go to buy the album.
Another thing I would like is that with the death of vinyl the dust jacket died too. Sure there are those tiny little pamphlets that come with cds - but those sure are small. I might would buy an album if it had some more biography about the music and its inpiration, maybe the artist could explain the music and tell how it was made - maybe I could see some pictures of the studio session. Sort of a "directors cut". Throw in music videos (DVD ROM??) and I would go to the store again and pay $20.
Do you know what the real kicker is?? I keep on getting these adds for "12 albums for one penny". I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff if I only really like one of the tracks off each album - even if it just costs a penny. Why not give me 12 mp3s for a penny if I agree to buy a couple of albums??????
Phill Kennedy
MP3 uses... (Score:1)
( open == good ) (Score:1)
MP3s and their magical effects? (Score:1)
Sonic Therapy [sonictherapy.com] has MP3s from both its artists available, be we don't seem to be getting a groundswell of support yet. Heck, you can even order our current releases online. Ah well. Maybe we'll see the magical effects of the MP3 bonanza eventually. I know it's not cause our music sucks.
Invent your own business model (Score:1)
Good job! (Score:1)
:)
When will the RIAA realize they won't win?
--
increase of cd purchases (Score:1)
Perhaps RIAA should quit acting like a bunch of pricks like usual and do a little bit of analysis on the sales before and after MP3s became popular. Betcha they increased. My faith in RIAA doing something smart (not even necessarily "the right thing", just smart for their own profits), however, is somewhat less than complete.
MP3s... (Score:1)
I admit, I pirated MP3's, but... (Score:1)
The recording industry got more money from me since I collect MP3s than ever before. This can't be wrong! (From their point of view)
This is exactly what's happening to this band.
M.
Smart! (Score:1)
K.
-
MP3's Rock For Unsigned Bands (Score:1)
It's not as big as MP3.Com, but the music there is quality stuff.
Cybergrrrrl (Siobahn Hotaling)
http://www.mp3.com/music/Folk/9117.html [mp3.com]
I know it's pirating but (Score:1)
Shovelware (Score:1)
wave of the future (Score:1)
Keep the faith!