MP3 Testimonial

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."

Oops - to honor GPL is to honor a copyright

[palpatine]

GNU Public License, "copyleft", is a form of creators' explicit expression of will over intellectual property, thus a form of copyright.

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

[gavinhall]

Posted by Mr. Assembly:

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...

[krynos]

About half of the 100+ audio CDs I have are because I've heard the MP3 of songs on the respective CDs... Other ausio CDs are due to listening to them in stores or at friends houses... However, when there is only one or 2 good songs on one CD, I'm sorry but I won't buy the CD. If I could buy individual songs for a reasonnable fee I would... Same things for CDs that almost impossible to find or would cost more than 30$CDN for one CD, except rare cases.

( open == good )

[Robert Bowles]

Subject says it all.

MP3s and their magical effects?

[hime]

Hmm. I still find there are too many people willing to pirate music solely for stupid reasons - "buying music on CDs is so old - MP3s are the future" is actually something someone I know from IRC said once.

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

[Honeylocust]

For years record sales have been dominated by big companies with huge marketing power. Mp3 puts marketing power into the hands of small bands, making it possible for them to decide how they'd like to make money of music rather than have the big record companies tell them how. The Greatful Dead ran the most successful live show in history while letting tapers record and copy their concerts freely. Other bands might sell their records in MP3 form or give away a few songs and sell CD's. There's no guarantee that they'll be successful, but for the first time they've got a chance to try without selling their soul to an A&R man.

Good job!

[Signal 11]

Nice to see some support out there.
:)

When will the RIAA realize they won't win?



--

increase of cd purchases

[bug]

The number of CDs that I purchase has easily doubled, if not tripled, since I was exposed to MP3s. While I won't say that I don't have a bunch of tunes in MP3 that I don't have the CD for (enough negatives there?), I'm still supporting a helluva lot more artists now than I was before, and a much greater diversity of artists as well. Almost everyone that I have talked to who uses MP3s has had the same experiences.

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...

[nuxx]

I don't have much of a tie to the music community except through the local industrial/goth scene here, but I can't think of how many times I've been streaming MP3s (via shoutcast) for friends who ended up going out and buying the disc. How do you know if you like somthing without hearing it first? One of the biggest reasons for this in this area is the proliferation of mainstream commercial radio and a lack of local/import/independant radio shows. It's just too hard to introduce others to the more obsecure aural pleasures out there without the use of MP3s or mixed cds.

I admit, I pirated MP3's, but...

[orignal]

As a result, I found out that I bought a lot of albums from bands I've never heard of before. Rammstein for instance. I downloaded 2-3 Rammstein MP3's and I was hooked. I bought 2 albums. I did this for quite a lot of artists and bands.

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!

[K.]

Well, that's one way to get your site on slashdot.

K.
-

MP3's Rock For Unsigned Bands

[Cybergrrrrrl]

I agree with this guy's comments about the ability of MP3's to get your music out there.... I am an unsigned artist too, with few hopes of getting my music heard - but now I've got people from all over the world listening to my music! That's pretty damn cool. Hey guys! Don't forget about another great site - www.Brainkick.com [slashdot.org] - The Unsigned Artists Consortium.....
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

[johnnnyboy]

Just like another /.er here I too bought a rammstein CD. Even some other less know groups such as Beborn Beton, Apoptygma Bezerk and you can't beat Frontline Assembly. I was introduced to their music from some pirated MP3s. If I were to really on just the radio I would never even hear their music. I now spend more money on CDs than ever before.

Shovelware

[Industrial Disease]

Heard a report on NPR a few months ago about the record companies cutting back on the production of singles. I think they got some anonymous source in the recording industry to admit that usually, the single would be the only song on the CD that anyone would want to hear. Forcing the consumer to buy an entire CD full of garbage to get one good song is a concious decision on the part of the recording industry goons.

wave of the future

[snapper]

I'm glad to here a mature admission like that and wish you all the success in the world in your music. I truly believe that with the efforts of sites like mp3.com and others that the music industry will take a different path. New and unsigned artists now have an opportunity to have their music heard by those who would never have had an opportunity to be exposed to their music before. Record labels can now scout for new talent without leaving their office and many struggling musicians will have their hard work pay off through this kind of exposure. There is plenty of room for a legitamate use of the mp3 format, other than for piracy (I own a fair collection of these myself I must admit) and I applaud the efforts of mp3.com to make this happen. I happily enjoy listening to original artists off of this site and would love to give my money to someone who hasn't signed away their soul yet for multinational rock tours, mtv, movies, etc...

Keep the faith!