RIAA Articles

Hi Angel, nice to see you back. I would be one of those who whole heartedly agrees with you.

 

Angel,

You have nailed it!---the quality of the music! In my posting to Grant earlier in this thread (page 3) I attempted the analyze the present state of affairs! I am 51, and now, I rarely buy contemporary music! Yet, when my Dad was 51, he was still buying contemporary music --the difference?, quality of the music and other reasons that I believe I have illustrated in my earlier posting! Does any one else agree?

Bob

 

Re: Re: Record Labels--the current state of affairs

True, Grant, but if you look at the age group that's doing all this copying that "damages the industry" it's the under 25 crowd not the over 30's!

Besides...times have changed. I don't listen to the Partridge Family or the Cowsills any longer and It'll be a cold day in Hades before I start wasting CDRs on that type of teen muck from my youth.

Where did I put my Maria Carrey and Backstreet Boys CDRs? Can anyone say corporate greed?

 

I dunno Bob I ain't no rockeet scieenteest but aomethin' just don't add up right...

 

Dave,

You have co-mingled Angel's post and my post there!

Bob

 

Some Interesting Thoughts

Muddy Thinking and the Music Biz
April 30, 2002
By John C. Dvorak

The antitechnology bill submitted by Senator Fritz Hollings (D–SC) would require copy protection circuitry in microprocessors. This hopeless legislation proves that the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) does not even understand its own business. I hope that Congress is not so dumb as to pass a law submitted by a senator who is an obvious stooge for Hollywood. (Hollings, a Jack Valenti look alike, should serve his own constituents and not those of southern California. Vote him out!) Meanwhile, the industry should get a grip on its business by understanding what is really going on.

First of all, the current music-swapping scene is not about piracy. It's about personal preference. And this is nothing new: Personal preference is the basis for the industry. Hear me out.

Since the beginning of recorded music, people have been taught to prefer their own mixes. Personal preference began with the jukebox in the 1930s and 1940s and eventually accounted for the success of the 45-rpm record and the goofy RCA changer. The 45-rpm record player let you stack single songs in any order and create a personal mix. This archaic device lost momentum during the faddish late 1960s, when extended-length music dominated the scene.

The mix-it-yourself phenomenon reemerged with the advent of the cassette. The record industry was baffled by the cassette phenomenon, thinking it was about copying music, and managed to get a tax imposed on blank cassettes that still exists. But the album era had resulted in too many albums with only one good song on each of them, so cassettes let users do their own mixes once more. The invention of the Sony Walkman accelerated this trend.

The DIY trend was again reversed by the CD. Actually, it was the death of the single and the appearance of the Sony Discman that practically killed the cassette. Again, people were at the mercy of the record companies, poor mixes, and the "one good song per album" dilemma. A few years ago, everyone was walking around with headsets on, and then suddenly you saw less of that because people couldn't stand listening to a whole CD.

Personal mixing resurfaced with the CD burner. Finally, people could create their own mixes again and burn them onto CDs. Even more interesting, they could now sample new artists from Napster and direct themselves to lesser-known genres.

During the Napster era, music sales were up 4 percent. Since the death of Napster, music sales are down 40 percent. The music industry seems to be ignoring this obvious relationship.

Napster was a promotional tool. Promotion sells music. No promotion, no sale. Hello! Blaming the downturn on piracy is ridiculous when the major conduits are shut off, underground, or scattered. And yes, those dwellers in the underground are pirates. But they never buy anything anyway. Remember that the music industry once decried radio as the death of the industry, claiming that nobody would buy a record if it were played on the radio. Once the industry understood promotion, it paid stations to play the music, and the payola scandal emerged. Can't these guys get it straight after all these years? It's the promotion, stupid.

What I call the One-Nine Solution will take care of all these problems and put electronic distribution back on track: Return Napster to open trading. Write it off as promotion. Then drop the price of a new CD to $9, and keep it low. The economy is in a slump, and it's time to lower prices.

Next, get rid of old CDs, and move them through electronic channels at $1 an album. The old backlist records are dead anyway. Most of the CD industry has been propped up on people updating their vinyl collections, and those days are over. People would gladly pay $10 for ten old Bob Dylan albums delivered electronically, so they could burn their own Best of Dylan. There wouldn't be any real piracy, since people would be too busy getting good stuff cheap. As things now stand, record companies are hoarding old material that could be making money and serving the public need.

This would flood the country with music and re-habituate people into casual listening. And yes, they would do their own mixes. Everyone would be happy, and business would be booming. But with people who obviously do not understand the mechanisms of their own industry, what are the chances?

http://www.pcmag.com/article/0,2997,s=1500&a=25817,00.asp

 

Re: Re: Re: Record Labels--the current state of affairs

I still listen to all of the music I enjoyed as a youth! My tastes may broaden but don't change!

A recent survey pointed out that the average age of napster users were in their thirties! It's just that college kids get all of the attention.

 

Good job!!!

>>>Mike, very well said!!!

Especially:

During the Napster era, music sales were up 4 percent. Since the death of Napster, music sales are down 40 percent. The music industry seems to be ignoring this obvious relationship


>>>>>What many people do not know is this: when Napster started coming on strong, the Record Industry was planning on presenting a case to congress to pass laws against ALL file swapping sites. So, jointly, the big labels retained an independent research firm to see EXACTLY how many sales they were losing to Napster. The results came back as Mike above stated.....Sales were UP!!

The month after Napster was shut down, the numbers showed that Record sales slumped not just a little, but GREATLY.

Get this.....the Record Industry "decided" not to publish the results of the independant study to the public!!!!!! DDUUHHH!!!

Napster was, as Mike indicated, a FREE Promtional tool for the industry. They were getting a FREE advertising vehicle for their product, and they actually were too old, stupid and backward thinking to see that. Napster helped sell MILLIONs of Cds, because you could hear stuff that you liked, and then wanted in better quality, with the ease of a ready made Cd . Without Napster, you'ld never be exposed to it, and therefore would never buy it. They never saw it that way. I bought like 30 Cds of obscure artists stuff that I was exposed to on Napster. I'd never have bought them otherwise .

If anyone from the major Labels is reading this........LEARN.

 

And if Sony was really on top of things they would be giving away the SACD decoder in every piece of audio hardware that they could get it in. It's the software that sells! Then start producing those hybrid SACDs. Are you listening Sony?

 

MagicAlex,
I agree with much of what you say- much of what drives the industry is the under 25 crowd. As we(collectively) get older, may of us don't stray much from our musical tastes.

I am not saying we are all "deadheads" or "swing-things" or "punkheads" or "crooners" for the rest of our lives, but as a RULE we grow up with something- we may not stray far from it. Hence as musical styles change- the younger population adopts it.

OMG- did I say all this??? It sounds like I have now become my college professor- YIKES!!!!

Anyway- what I want is good quality sounding product in MY musical tastes- I have many musical styles tastes, but unfortunately none of them would many 25 year olds listen to. I am probably a minority to the record producers.


GEeez-O-man- enough of this theory $%^&, and turn on the recorders!

Chris


On the throes of becoming a "MEMBER" AGAIN! Just remember- "membership has its priveliges"

 

BTW, so many of the people who book us for a dance like Elvis and other music from that time and they also prefer modern country over the country classics yet a lot of people do request country classics.

 

With baby-boomers, the industry got used to the concept of marketing toward the youth. The baby boomers still control the majority of the financial wealth but the companies are still stuck in the idea that the youth spend the money on music. Not only do today's youth NOT spend money on music, they don't even have the money! The record companies still can't get that! They are so busy trying to sell to disinterested youth that they don't (or won't) see that reissues are their real cash cow. Of course, the real reason is that while reissues pay the bills they can't make those fat salaries off successful popular acts. Also, in a way, they are still following the old Hollywood model for their industry.

There is a lot of ego going on with these record execs. Each one wants to be responsible, or at least a player in the "next big thing". They don't want to run a quiet, stable business. They don't know HOW to run a business at all! They just want to be known as the guy who runs X company that has X as a megastar artists that sells millions of records.

I won't even get started on how radio plays into all of this! They are just enablers to the record business.

Eh! What do I know? I'm just a frustrated music lover!

 

Grant,

Very well said!

Bob

 

Grants Post

Yes, Grant, you hit the nail right on the head.

You know, lets think about it.

The big Labels would rather risk losing 100 million, like they did with Britney Spears, RATHER then make a guaranteed , consistent, stable profit by issuing or licensing their catalog product.

Lets take EMI. They own that Full, complete catalogs of something like 30 small labels. They have Re-issued LESS THAN 1% of this material.

Yet, they insist on a minimun license agreement of 20,000 units to license ANYTHING to any label. This is nothing but insane.

If EMI wanted to make money, they would create a Unit soley to license everything in their vault at a reasonable fee. There are many small labels that are just dying to issue the lesser known artists that appeared on Liberty, Dolton, Imperial, Decca, Brunswick, ect. They wont sell big numbers individually, but in agregate they represent a nice profit center.

But once again, the big labels are greedy and they Its not enough".

Well, whats the point of HAVING the tapes in the vault and paying their share of storage if they remain there to rot with no hope of release? Doesnt top Management see this?

Is it better to LOSE millions every year and fire 50% of the staff than to make a predictable, stable albeit small profit?

 

It is interesting to note than these record companies are run by mostly baby-boomer executives, steeped in the greed ethics of the 80s, employ gen-Xers who's knowledge of music only goes back to last week, and try to market to generation Y.

 

Grant,

....to generation Y that says, "Whatever!"

Bob

 

Great insight Grant! God, I hope someone with a little clout, and I know that there are a few lurking on these forums, read this thread and take note.

I really wish they'd pipe up and speak their mind on this subject.

 

As an investor, wouldn't it make more sense to go for a financially stable company with slower but steadier growth, than one that is economically unpredictable that usually is in the red and with a high employee turnover rate?

 

Last Post

Grant, one would think so.

Apparantly the guys who run the record business dont pay attention to basic, sound, proven business strategies.

And boy, does that show!!

 

These are excellent comments! The album buying "industry" is practically dead, and for many reasons, as stated above.

-people won't pay the CD asking price
-people spend more time online, less in front of stereos
-people watch more TV
-we live in a society where we want things right away and we get them (online), and
music is no different
-most CD's suck where consistently good musical content is concerned
-most CD's suck sonically
-most artists suck
-the thrill is gone

I do think online file-sharings does kill sales but it is not the real reason why the industry is in trouble.

 

Beagle,

Realistic observations. Lest anybody be too critical of your observations remember--"cynisism is realism that no one wants to hear!"

The present state of affairs is indeed, sad...

Bob

 

Well, you know, the rock & roll industry started out as a singles oriented one. That was before the Beatles and the idea of conceptual works happened. I think this last move in the mid-to-late 60s was the last time the industry actually gave the consumer what they wanted. After the album, they ran away with it and based their business practice on it and rely on it to this day! Of course! It's where the real money is.

Many have criticized the current trend towards the one-hit wonder from flash-in-the-pan artists. Perhaps this is where the industry needs to go back to to reconnect with the product they sell. But they are locked into this monster they created and they can't find their way out. Then, instead of helping the smaller, independant companies distribute product, they take them over or crush them. Then they try to force feed us with what they want us to buy. Then, they try to control that!

I dunno, just rambling...

 

Yes, you could liken them to the person with a high paying job who sets high living standards and needs a certain income to maintain it. When their hours are cut back, they panic, go get drunk, beat their children and spouses instead of finding a proper solution to the problem, like lowering their expectations and cutting back on their own fringe benefits.

 

Beagle,

I don't agree with your previous statement as you've just commited to what the record industry is doing, GENERALIZATIONS! Admittedly, It most likely does happen, more often than not, but still it's a generalization and not acceptable to me.

BTW Want to know what profession has the most of the incidents that you described? It may shock you, and no disrespect to anyone who is. It's Police! And these people are allowed to carry hand guns......Hmmm.

 

Just ask the public!