RonaldSays

Very well put! It's not the big acts you have to worry about. Look at the smaller bands who are just struggling to make a living. I'm not a very good musician myself but I know some very good and talented musicians and it's just heart-breaking to see them struggling to make a buck. Most of them give up in the end. And they don't get paid a lot for their performances either. You really have to become succesful to finally make a good living out of it.

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captured

i mainly buy cds for reason mentioned before, coz of the artwork and the fact that i can collect them and show them to mykids and say "this is best music ever made"

i was just thinking, if you buy cds from bands that are dead like michael jackons and nirvana, where does the profit go?? it certainly doesnt go to the bands... wtf??

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sidewinder

Not much of it goes to the bands even when they are alive. It goes to the record labels and copyright holders.

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Chaos

Same for me. Whenever i get the chance, i buy an album, but I can't buy every album i want.

Our Heliophobic Sun

I don't recall saying that those artists make music only because they like it. I said that that should be what it is about, but it isn't. That was actually what I disliked about it in the first place. If artists actually see the music as work, instead of a medium in which to express yourself, they are obviously doing it because of the money.

I don't have anything against the selling of albums, but I do have something against the endless bitching of artists against downloads. Because the bands that I have seen that complained about it, have enough money as it is. If you make as much money as a band like Metallica, I can't see why you would be pissed if your sales go down a bit. The smaller bands, which I would think have more reason to bitch about it, don't say a word about it. One quite big band in the Netherlands, Kutschurft, limited their first cd to 100 copies. When they saw that they were becoming really popular, they didn't change anything. The second album as well was limited, and was sold out really quick. They didn't get to see much money from that day onwards, but they continued making music. And that is the right spirit. I even have the original of their first two albums, because they were not only worth it for the music, but also for the people that made it.
I also know that these guys had jobs aside from the music. But they could give me the music I loved, with their main income being from full-time jobs


Sorry that I wasn't clear on this in my first post, this is my mistake, but I do not ONLY download music. Like I said, I have the first two albums by Kutschurft, and I have about 100/110 original albums right next to me now. Also, if an artist is whining about their albums being downloaded, I won't download them. I won't buy them either, though, I just don't listen to the music. If I feel that an artist is worth being paid not only because they make good music, but also because they make music with good intentions, I won't complain about having to pay them. And if they really do make music with the intentions I described, they won't be pissed if I download their albums.

And even if I do only download the music, which I do with most bands, I will support them. I give them good reviews, encourage them to keep doing what they are doing, etc.. Why should an artist only be able to measure their success by how much money they are making? If you look around on the internet, and you see that people like your music, they enjoy listening to you, they feel what you want them to feel... That should be your real reward. Even if you are making millions off your albums, that should be the thing that encourages you to keep making music.


Wasn't that always the case? If you aren't well known, you won't make a lot of money. Not only because of the downloads, but because you are not well known. I am not saying that those bands were not good, or they lacked something. But it has always been the case that some bands that make some of the best music do not get well known, and some that are pure shit get well known, that's not something that has come along with the illegal downloading of music.
If you look at the "grind" bands, with which I mean goregrind, porngrind, etc. The really extreme forms of music, I can't imagine that they make a lot of money, even if all of their albums are being sold. Yet they keep making music. If you look at some black metal bands, who have a thing for limiting their albums, I can't imagine them making a lot of money as well, yet they keep making music...

RonaldSays

I know what you're saying and I don't disagree but that wasn't my point. My point was that I'd like to support especially bands like that by buying their albums instead of downloading. And it's also about killing the market. Of course I download stuff as well but when I like an album I put it on my list and will buy it in the end.

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Our Heliophobic Sun

Ok, then I did not understand you good, sorry. I am not against the fact that bands make money though, and I am not too bad of a person to give them money, but I am against it if it is only about the money. The most music I like is, in the general public, quite unknown. The people I was aiming at were not in these bands, too. As I said, if an artist gets all upset about people downloading their album, I won't download it, especially when the band in question makes enough money anyways.
I did, however, pay for the recording of an album by a band that was broke (you had to order and pay the album in advance, and there were enough albums in total to cover the total costs if every album was bought). I did that because, for this band, I knew it was not about getting richer themselves, they really wanted to record that album and wanted to show it to the world, and if you can't pay the recording of it, I am more than glad to help a band that I like with that if the band has these intentions. This is not to put myself in a better daylight, though. This is to show that there are bands who aren't trying to be as rich as they can, but just want to let their music being heard by the public.
But if you go and make an album trying to get as much sales as you can, I say you aren't doing it for the good reason. Before the public, before the fans, before the critics, it is important that you yourself stand behind the music and what it says. If you are making an album to get sales, you are putting your own opinion aside.

IWP

Downloading is better, because it's free, and saves me a **** load of money which is good, considering that I'm not exactly the richest person around. Besides, bands/artists don't really make money off of album sales anyway.

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Kirby

Thats not always true.
On a major label, yes, but independent peoples makes money off their albums.

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lucifer_sam

sometimes, more often than not it's the opposite. you hear horror stories all the time how indie labels like Motown and SST ****ed their signed bands.

at least with major labels there's increased distribution/publication, and they usually get a bigger chunk of the royalties paid.

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