No recording artist sold over 10 million albums last year.

[Swede]

I saw that on the CNN scroll. Is that a first?

[Don_G]

1. I Have No Idea

I stopped buying albums when the music turned to crap after massive buyouts in the industry. I replace any damaged albums with used CD's anymore to protest the RIAA also.

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. doesn't suprise me

Music really wasn't very good or original this year.

In fact, not much of anything in the entertainment industry was great this year.

[quispquake]

5. And that's what's pissing me off on the RIAA's position...

The music that is coming out on the majors is absolute shit...how long do they expect us to pay $17.00 for a cd with PERHAPS one good song on it?

But, downloading IS not cool either...I do some, but I also have an Internet streaming show & a college show where I promote the music. Here's what I do:

a) I buy INDEPENDENT music by INDEPENDENT bands & labels
b) I will always buy a CD by a group I see live when I go to the show (that is if they don't suck!)...this 'cuts out' the RIAA (who I REFUSE to support).
c) When the incredibly rare situation comes out where there is actually a decent cd by a major label artist (pretty damned rare), I'll Ebay a used copy or buy one at a used record store.
d) When I do download, I don't usually download major label stuff...I download indy stuff which if I like it, I BUY THE FREAKING THING (preferably on VINYL!).

The RIAA is a bullying organization (like all corporations)...screw them...I will not support them in any way. (and yes, it does help when all the bands I like aren't on majors anyways).

pp23

[xultar]

3. Cuz they all sux. They are all pissin mad about downloading

We aren't downloading their music. We're downloading mucic by people who don't have hooty pa-tooty record deals.

Small Bands and new singers who record companies don't care about anyway.

I usually listen to club remixes mixes and imports.

So when they start makin better music we'll start buying. Half the time you get a CD and out of 9 songs there is only 1 good one. EU that really makes me :grr:

[wtmusic]

4. Why pay? It's free now

Millions who think musicians don't deserve to be paid (like everyone else) are downloading it for free now.

[Herder]

6. YEP

Actually, I subscribe to XM radio so that means I always have variety at 9.99 a month. Comedy, news, etc.

I refuse to pay $18 for a CD when I can buy a DVD for $14. Most DVD's cost tons more to make in content and distribution but RIAA is an oversized monster who has been busted for price fixing (that was the lawsuit where they still haven't paid up) and yet people who share music are criminals.

The cost of CD's have still not come down even though the cost of making CD's has plummeted to pennies on the dollar.

Of course people who download music and burn CD's, making a black market profit need to be punished but sharing music LEGALLY is something that people will never want to give up.

Also, there are tons of alternative entertainment venues now such as xbox, playstation, everquest, etc that means MUSIC ISN'T THE ONLY CHOICE FOR CONSUMERS WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR ENTERTAINMENT DOLLARS.

[el_gato]

7. bullshit

the artists are getting ripped off by the industry and you know it

you can go back to listening to brittny now

[wtmusic]

9. ok hypocrite

*it's not stealing*
*EVERYONE does it*
*the industry rips the artists off anyway*
*if I like it I'll buy the CD (no, really)*

got a new one, or just the same old bullshit?

Hey, I drive over the speed limit. I admit it. It's probably wrong, it's illegal, and I admit it.

That's the difference between us.

[MUAD_DIB]

12. Ohhhhh Britnny.....

Whenever I hear her lipsink I...I....














:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

[vi5]

8. You know what? It was free in the 80's as well....

When I dubbed tapes from my friends to listen to. But somehow despite the prevalence of home taping, the industry continued to thrive and I continued to purchase new music from stores as well.

The difference between then and now is that artists were allowed time to grow and the labels would nurture them. Instead now they have millions of dollars thrown at them and when they don't hit big on the first album they are dropped and in debt to the record label.

If someone wants to be a business man, then be a business man, not a musician. And if you want to be a rock star then by all means sell yourself to a major record label. But if someone wants to get paid for people hearing their music and that is truly their main priority, hire a pressing plant to press it and get out there and play shows and promote yourself and sell your music at these shows and over the internet and there are plent of people who would be glad to pay for it. Artists such as Fugazi and Ani Difranco have done it and are extremely wealthy at this point. So don't tell me it can't be done.

[wtmusic]

11. another long post about how it's OK, kindof

the bottom line is it's stealing. So unless you want to tell me you're against authors receiving royalties for books, screenwriters getting royalties for movies, the right to own the name of a company, the right to own a trademark--join the club with el_gato above.

When you download music for free you are taking money not only from record companies but from the artist and the songwriter, period.

[vi5]

13. Is checking a book out from a library stealing?

Just curious?
How about if I hear it on the radio?

No, I dont think it's stealing and I'm not a proponent of "intellectual property"

I download a song to hear if I like a band or album. If I do, I buy it. If I don't, I delete it because I have no need for it. So tell me what exactly I am stealing? Any more than if I hear a song on the radio and buy it if I like it or don't if I don't like it?

Personally I like entire CD's and albums and packaging. So downloading a full cd or the concept of listening to mp3's for any kind of extended duration of listening pleasure is not appealing to me at all.

[Interrobang]

17. So what if you download...

...legally available songs? (I have about 12 MP3s, and they're *all* legal.)

What if you download songs by artists whose albums are long out of print and can't be gotten anywhere commercially (except maybe rarely on eBay or secondhand)? What kind of business model *won't take money you're willing to give them* for a product simply because they can't be bothered to keep it in stock? (Personally, I don't do this, but my fiance does, and he also writes cheques to the artists for the royalties they would have collected if the record companies deigned to actually sell him the albums that he wants.) There are many many artists who find themselves in this situation.

Personally, I sort of favour the "try before you buy" argument for downloading, since I hate commercial radio. Ever since the conglomerations moved in, there seems to be a maximum intelligence figure for commercial DJs, and they're all blithering idiots.

As to the major objectors to file-sharing, which would be the RIAA, I'm not costing them any sales, because I've been on RIAA boycott for four or five years now anyway.

[BiggJawn]

10. Not even the Chix?

I'm sure the RIAA will blame it all on downloading, but, y'wanna hear MY reason for buying ONLY the Dixie Chix this year?

Everything else I've seen released are either classical albums I already own or they're....

Pop CRAP!

we get some artists to start releasing music, and not that crap the "focus group" says we wanna listen to, I might reconsider.

And I do NOT download. Be serious, on a 52kB dial up? I'm gonna download thousands of tunes on a DIAL-UP????? Shit, cuts into my porn-surfing too damn much...

[Ellen Forradalom]

14. No recording artist has deserved to move 10 million units.

Britney? Avril? Please.

[LTR]

15. Reap what they sew

Maybe it's because of several reasons (besides the obvious downloading thing):

1. Music today sucks! Very few great artists and albums coming out. Anything good doesn't get played on the radio, hence, nobody buys it. Which brings me to...

2. Radio only plays said sucky music. I'll bet if Pink Floyd was an emerging band, they wouldn't be touched with a ten-foot pole by commercial radio. What's really ironic is that the RIAA and the major labels are in bed with Clear Channel/Infinity/et. al. The RIAA tried to strongarm webcasters out of business by charging royalties, since they were afraid of parties they were unfamiliar with doing things such as (gasp) PROMOTING UNHEARD MUSIC! THis shows that the RIAA are nothing but control freaks with little vision.

3. The music industry tries to shove some pretty bad music down our throats. N-Stync, Britney, Christina, J-Ho, etc. And then all this rap today which is little but swearing and screaming over so-called 'beats' and 'rhythms'. Nothing but noise, but the shit sells.

4. Many of today's artists are bland and really suck in concert. Amazing that it costs $50 and up to see a band in a large venue, and put on a mediocre show. I blew that much money to see Counting Crows and John Mayer this summer (gf begged me to). One of the most depressing things I ever saw. I almost fell asleep. What the hell ever happened to the Van Halens, U2s, Metallicas, and others? When bands actually gave a damn, and put on a hell of a show for under $20?

5. I download my music to give the RIAA the finger, and I sleep well at night, thank you. I figure, they can rip me off, so why can't I do likewise? Plus, I pay the RIAA royalties when I buy blank discs (most of which I use for non-mp3 storage). I mostly download old, hard-to-find or obscure stuff anyways. How much royalty do they expect to make off Romeo Fuckin' Void in 2003 anyway?

This is why I rarely buy CDs anymore. Tell ya what, RIAA: Treat me with respect, and I shall return the favor. Otherwise, you can all kiss my ass!

[sadiesmom]

16. Actrually, trolling music and artist message boards lately, I have learned

al lot about why radio sucks. Can you spell ClearChannel? Yep that and legalized payola with the large record companies paying and the program directors (not DJs) collecting. What amazed me was when record companies buy hundreds of thousands of records to make their packages *S*T*A*R*S*.

There are some current people I do like with good voices and songs. I think that sometimes the people win. The only problem is that they make all the albums over produced.

[Sting]

18. the only decent music this year...

was Linkin Park's "Meteora" cd. The rest was shit. I download my music for free anyways. :D I DO NOT support the RIAA and I show that by getting free music. :evilgrin: Downloading music off the Internet is not stealing at all. It's no different than listening to the radio and taping the music. Get a grip people.

[SideshowScott]

19. Im sure the Music Industry will blame file sharing but the truth is..

That music has not been very good or original in years. Oh sure there are great bands out there that eather dont get airplay or is not Mianstream. I still buy music i like and there has been VERY few albums that i got in a very long time.

[lazarus]

20. Sigh

Once more, people. A portion of every blank cd sold, and every cd burner sold, goes to the RIAA and, presumably, to the poor poverty stricken artists, as well. So they do get their money when I download and burn mp3's.

As for downloading killing music sales, I don't believe it. Note that DVD sales are way up, as are videogame sales. There are only so many leisure dollars to go around. There are more things to spend those dollars on. So the RIAA is just getting a smaller slice of the pie.

[Socialist Christian]

22. Every should download and burn, and not buy cds.........

As a true artist let me be the first to say these guys need to be brought to reality no painter to my knowledge and only 12 writers no poets, photgraphers (art) make that much money, and look at the dross they produce, i burn and i burn alot. Real artist produce beauty for the world, and for all the musicians that clame to be liberal, they sure seem to act republican with there greed.

[Socialist Christian]

21. The last two best-Jagged little pill 30 million and Hootie+B.fish 16 mill

nt