fractalign

With the rise of the digital age the way people consumed music was changed for ever. With Cd's set to go the way of the cassette and sales of Vinyl still too small to offset that loss, artists must left wondering how they will ever make any money.
I watched a documentary recently on Thirty Seconds To Mars. Having sold several million albums already they were in Massive debt to their label EMI. Their label was screwing them blind and trying to sue them for 30 million. A truce was eventually reached and lawsuit dropped. But even after that, the band still owed EMI 1.4 million or so. At the end they are touring south America and the singer asks the fans how many have the new album. 99 percent raise their hands, he then asks them how many illegally downloaded it. The same number raise their hands.

There is something missing in this equation and I think it might be the fan's loyalty to the band. Since when did pirating someones work become a source of pride ? They are happy to pay $100 or what ever to see them live but they can't part with 10 or 15 dollars to buy their album ? There was a time when fans would happily do both but these days no one wants to pay for music or so it seems.
I will admit with so much good music being uploaded these days it has never been easier to hear good stuff, but the rule should be that if you like an album enough to own it. buy it or get someone to buy it for you.

Its bad enough that artists get screwed over by their labels but when their fans do the same that really stinks. I really hate the major labels and I hope they go the way of the dinosaurs. I also hope that with crowd funding, artists will have an alternative to the majors for releasing their music. I also hope that their so called fans will part with their money to support them. At the end of the day of the major labels die out, artists will still release albums. But if the fans do not get behind these artists then I doubt there will be a music industry in a decade.

TheBig3

Probably still in LA.