GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Damages of $1.9 million could backfire on music industry

kane · 06-21-2009, 05:33 PM

I have a feeling eventually one of two things is going to happen with the music industry.

They will either eventually get strict enough laws on the books that allow the RIAA to shut things down at the ISP and hosting level and they will come down hard on anyone who uses torrent applications (IE if you if use a torrent you may have to prove to your ISP you are using it for a legal reason) and they will really put a clamp on this.

OR

They will kind of give up. Enough rulings will be made in favor of the pirates that the RIAA will give up and the music industry will drastically change its business model.

I have no idea which way it will go, but I do know this much. If you thought artists got screwed by record labels now, just wait until the labels decide the new business model will be giving away the records and taking pieces of the artists other streams of revenue.

The main reason you don't see a lot of artists coming out against illegal downloading is because it can still benefit them. They know they will make very little money in actual record royalties, but they can make a lot of money touring, selling merchandise, licensing their music to games, movies, TV and commercials and getting performance royalties from the radio. When the labels decide they can no longer sell albums like they want, they will start demanding a piece of those other things. Of course the bands/artists can choose not to sign with them and go it alone, but if you want to be a big, popular worldwide act you need the push that a major label can give you.

I have seen people say they don't buy albums because the bands don't get enough of a royalty from the sale of the album. Don't be shocked when you see those same bands now having to turn over portions of their touring income and publishing and other revenue to the record companies. When they give away those records the artists will be making significantly less in the end.

06-21-2009, 05:33 PM
kane Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: portland, OR Posts: 20,684	I have a feeling eventually one of two things is going to happen with the music industry. They will either eventually get strict enough laws on the books that allow the RIAA to shut things down at the ISP and hosting level and they will come down hard on anyone who uses torrent applications (IE if you if use a torrent you may have to prove to your ISP you are using it for a legal reason) and they will really put a clamp on this. OR They will kind of give up. Enough rulings will be made in favor of the pirates that the RIAA will give up and the music industry will drastically change its business model. I have no idea which way it will go, but I do know this much. If you thought artists got screwed by record labels now, just wait until the labels decide the new business model will be giving away the records and taking pieces of the artists other streams of revenue. The main reason you don't see a lot of artists coming out against illegal downloading is because it can still benefit them. They know they will make very little money in actual record royalties, but they can make a lot of money touring, selling merchandise, licensing their music to games, movies, TV and commercials and getting performance royalties from the radio. When the labels decide they can no longer sell albums like they want, they will start demanding a piece of those other things. Of course the bands/artists can choose not to sign with them and go it alone, but if you want to be a big, popular worldwide act you need the push that a major label can give you. I have seen people say they don't buy albums because the bands don't get enough of a royalty from the sale of the album. Don't be shocked when you see those same bands now having to turn over portions of their touring income and publishing and other revenue to the record companies. When they give away those records the artists will be making significantly less in the end.