RECORD COMPANIES LOSE, ARTISTS GAIN (sorry if this is a repost) [View All]

[harmonicon]

I just thought I'd post this here, since I haven't seen it on DU since coming across it a few days ago. The long and short of it is this; a Norwegian study shows that in the last ten years, musicians are better off than they were before, where as record companies are losing out from digital distribution.

I sort of hate the idea of opening up this can of worms again, because the arguments that ensue make me want to bash my head against a wall. I am a musician, and for the last 10+ years have been making records, as a performer, producer, writer, etc. It just drives me crazy when I see people defending groups like the RIAA with arguments about "artists are losing money!!" with no evidence to back it up. This artist hates the major record labels and would love to see them disappear.

please do read the whole summary, but here is a short excerpt:

"After 10 years of digitalization of music, the average (Norwegian) musician's income has increased by 66%. As a group, the only losers in digital music seems to be the record companies. This is the conclusion of a M.Sc. study done by students Richard Bjerkøe and Anders Sørbo at the Norwegian School of Management BI in Oslo.

The thesis "The Norwegian Music Industry in the Age of Digitalization" shows that the musicians' income increase is due to increased income from concerts, various collection agencies and stipends from the government in the period from 1999 to 2009. During the same period, record sales have decreased by about 50%. The fall in income from record sales is less important for the musicians, however, since, on average, they only receive 15% of record sales, whereas they receive on average 50% from concerts and 80% from collection agencies (who collects provisions from radio play and other uses of the artists' productions.)"

http://www.espen.com/archives/2010/10/record_companies_lose_artists_gain.html