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Still More RIAA News
We just did an article about the RIAA's mendacity with statistics, and here come some more: first, someone has gone to the trouble to deconstruct their income figures over the past few years, showing that the RIAA's lack of investment in new releases is in itself sufficient to explain any dropping sales, and second, this website concerning the music industry settling a price-fixing lawsuit, which I believe is this one, filed two years ago.
I point this out because it gets grating every time it's suggested that the RIAA is some giant monopoly that controls what gets published and whatnot. It isn't. That's about as sane as headlining a report describing a "going postal" type massacre as "NRA goes on shooting rampage in post office".
The RIAA is an industry association. It does not control its members, its members control it.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I'd be much more willing to buy CD's if they were not insanely expensive.
Most new CD's cost around $15-$20... Considering I usually buy a CD mainly for 2 or 3 tracks, thats about $5 or more for a single song.
Or, I could buy the singles, and pay about $5 a song
Gee, that really makes me want to buy CD's. I'll stick with Kazaa Lite, Gnutella, or something.
The only time I buy a CD anymore is when it is a small band that I want to support, and then I usually buy from their website.
from the article : why is it that sales didn't start declining until AFTER the RIAA had Napster shut down?
kazaa, morpheus, audiogalaxy, gnutella...
frankly, can anyone (good or vilain) pretend that closing napster possibly changed anything in online music trading habits ? and hence in any sales reports an correlation analysis whatsoever ?
I wish the author was honest.
O.
Back in the mid 1980s when CDs first came out you had a choice of LP, CD, or Tape. The typical list price for a new release LP or tape was $8.99. The CD list price was $16.99.
Their reason: There was a backlog of over a year to manufacture "back catalog releases". They (record industry) said the price high price of CD was because of the manufacturing process, as well as supply and demand.
Well for CDs there's no backlog now, they use less raw material, and provide less artwork. And yet the CD price remains inflated.
Does the artist get more royalties for CD than a LP or cassette? I think not.
The article referenced is quite clear on this point. It is quotoing the RIAA's announcements regarding income industry-wide (though presumably the RIAA's definitaion of "industry-wide" refers only to it's members).
The differnce between saying that the RIAA's income statistics are incorrect and saying that the NRA shot someone is that the NRA was likely not involved in the shooting, and likely did not colude to make the shooting happen the way it did.
The RIAA is directly reporting these statistics. They are the RIAA's collective industry statistics. Also, the RIAA members have been shown to actively colude to make these statistics what they are through price-fixing and other tactics.
On the point of calling the RIAA a monopoly, I think it's perfectly fair. Just as a corporation can act as a single entity even though it is made up of many individuals, so too does the RIAA act as a single entity for the purposes of controling retail sales of music and lobbying (i.e. buying politicians) for music-industry causes like passing the DMCA. BMI did not lobby to pass the DMCA independantly, the RIAA did. This is a tactic for gaining control over the market and over the technologies that affect the market by the RIAA.
Monopoly tactics? Yep.
Something that peopler keep missing is they charge things twice. They talk about royalties, and then about the recording and marketing costs.
.... The record industry. They can employ themselves to do the marketing. The record publisher doesn't even need to make a profit if it can cause other parts of the group to make a profit.
What they don't mention is that part of the recording and merketing costs are charged to the band (Source: courtney Love in Salon article)
Secondly, a large chunk of the money paid by the record industry is paid to
Maybe not. The author of the article goes on to argue that file swapping, which may have killed the singles market, couldn't add up to this amount. Alas, he didn't read the quote properly. $4 billion is what they attribute to physical piracy, not online swapping. There are parts of the world where you can buy just about any CD, music or software, for a fraction of the price of retail. In a street market in Thailand I saw MS Office and NT Server for $20 (with activation keys), music CDs of current US and European pop releases for $5, PS games for $5-10. All were in jewel cases with artwork.
Physical piracy is their real enemy, not file sharing.
Amen.
:)
I'm glad also not to hear you (quite) say, "Well, I'd stop stealing if they'd just lower prices." Stealing will always be free (esp. when P2P cuts out the street corner middle man in the trenchcoat), and they can never compete with free. Just say "no" to extortion.
CD prices have fallen surprisingly little in 20 years -- about a third in inflation-adjusted dollars. I don't remember prices like this with vinyl, and when CD's came along there was a hefty premium for them. Yes, they provided higher quality, but I bet their production costs are now far lower.
I think the RIAA members need to do some serious introspection about their business model. That doesn't mean ignoring infringement, but realizing that the boat is sinking because of a lot of larger holes in the hull. Direct sales are a great concept; other methods to lower costs must exist. Note however that we do live in a society that somehow manages to buy $130 Nikes that cost $30 wholesale. (Astonishingly, Nike only makes a few dollars profit on each pair.) The record industry is far from the only industry with big markups, so don't rush to any conclusions.
The RIAA members should not abuse market statistics or fix prices to promote their cause. Resentful consumers should not steal to promote theirs. Now, all join hands and sing....
The funny thing is I'm sure 99% of the public has no idea what all this talk is about. The one-quarter who do don't even talk to the three-eighths of the 10% of the last ninth who uh... Well, I'd like to see some statistics on that, I'm 110% certain.
According to RIAA President Hillary Rosen, "107% of the music consumers surveyed believe our statistics."
It is quite simple
Haiku should not be funny
Try a Senryu
to ruthlessly point out the factual, logical and mathematical "imprecisions" that underly the fight against savage piracy, then you are going to make it that much more difficult for the industry to successfully try and execute these heinous criminals who plague society.
Disproving the theory that "You'll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public" (P.T. Barnum ??), U.S. buyers have apparently come to the realization that $3.50 to $5.50 is too damn much to pay for one song.
I believe the quote is "No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." from H.L. Mencken, the noted satirist.
P.T. Barnum's quote is "There's a sucker born every minute."
As the article mentions, there is a proposed settlement in a class action price fixing lawsuit filed by 43 state attorneys general against several major record companies and music retailers.
The terms of the settlement are that people who bought music CDs, records or cassettes between 1/1/95 and 12/22/00 can apply for a refund of up to $20.
But: Like most class action settlements, the terms are not necessarily favorable to consumers. For example, the settlement fund is $67,375,000 in cash plus $75,700,000 "worth of" prerecorded CDs. If "the number of claims filed would result in refunds of less than $5.00 per claimant, there will be no cash distribution to individual consumers. Rather, the cash portion of the settlement shall be distributed to mot-for-profit, charitable, governmental or public entities[.]"
Find out more at musiccdsettlement.com
Disclaimer: The poster (me) expresses no opinion as to the merits (if any) of this class action settlement, and this post is not legal advice nor is it an advertisement or solicitation for legal services.
From the Cost of a CD from the RIAA web site:
"While the RIAA does not collect information on the specific costs that make up the price of a CD, there are many factors that go into the overall cost of a CD -- and the plastic it's pressed on, is among the least significant."
They admit they don't really know the costs. They don't have the data so they speak from ignorance. Or, they do have the data but don't want to admit what they know.
How to Download YouTube Videos
I don't think it's quite that sinister, though your portrayal of the music industry is considerably sexier than mine.
I won't even ask what you mean by "she loves loves loves her ding dongs." (Lest any guys get misplaced notions about Hilary, read this.) I mean, I like ding dongs as much as the next guy, but....
I've heard figures for the artist's cut ranging form 50 to $2. I don't know what's accurate, but assume it depends a lot on how much leverage the act has -- there's a difference between Bruce Springsteen and WeEatToads but their CD's are both expensive. (Springsteen may be cheaper because of volume.) (And I'm not starting a f*cking debate about musical tastes!) Must be nice to be a solo artist rather than have to split the coins with other band members.
As for markup, we rarely think about it as we happily pay for it. Next time you see a box of Wheaties, ask yourself how much the wheat cost. Probably less than a raw CD. Now look at that pretty and informative 4-color box it comes in. Which costs more? Then look around at the supermarket. How much does it cost to run? A lot. What does this have to do with the price of wheat? Nothing, but it has a heck of a lot to do with the price of Wheaties.
Stealing is not free!!
That's a misconception. It doesn't cost any *money* to steal, but stealing still has cost. Most notable is time cost -- it takes time to locate and download a song you want. And even then once you're done you can't be sure you didn't get a lot of data errors in the track or different songs in the album were recorded with different loudness, etc.
Theoretically, if the recording industry priced CDs below ((peoples' value of own time * length of time it takes to find the cd) + value of quality) then the could compete with piracy on a price level. Obviously everyone's value of their time is different so they'll never be able to get everyone. For me, if CDs cost $5-$10 I would never mess around with Kazaa, and I think a lot of other people wouldn't either. $20? No, thanks.
Here is my email to the author...
You have posted a great article. It's very informative and insightful and missing a couple important things.
First, I appreciate your promotion of independent artists and justly compensating them, but I disagree with you're numbers. Let me humbly suggest a different split. 16% for production costs. 34% marketing and bribes (we can dream that clear channel and mtv are with in budget). 16% for the label, 16% for investors and 17% for the band. I don't think anyone would disagree with their cut, but what I'm really trying to express is the rule that you spend twice as much on marketing as you do on R&D. And in this case, the world's demonstrated that marketing often counts more for sales than product quality.
Second, as the above somewhat illustrates, the real enemy of both the consumer AND the labels is radio consolidation and the evil empire of clear channel and the event venue lackies it holds. They limit our choice and variety. For the artist and labels, they charge too much money. At one time, music was often the program that pulled people in to listen to adds. Because of extravagently high payola.. er, I mean, "promoter" costs through elimination of competition, the radio stations have really become NOTHING BUT ADVERTISING. Ads are paid for, programs are paid for, automate and underpay local talent, buy out the competition and then print your own money. The Conrad Burns '96 telecommunications act did good things, but it brought more harm than good and needs to be corrected. The record labels have much much more to gain from investing in policial bribery to bring back competition than they have from making all their consumers and benifactors criminals.
Last, that leads to what the REAL issue with RIAA is. The RIAA's end consumer, the people who pay them, are the records labels. The RIAA has to justify thier high costs to the labels every year. Every year, they have to justify the existence of this perpetual parasitic beauracracy. The labels feel that they get good benifits from the current payola system; they just don't like today's prices. If they didn't like it, the lables have plentry of shills to create politicial winds of change. The RIAA's consumer is the labels, NOT THE CONSUMER. They don't care about us; we aren't even the corn in Rosen's shit. They are paid by the labels. What this whole piracy thing is about marketing themselves as relevent to the labels. Let me repeat; the RIAA's emphasis on piracy is their effort to keep getting money from the labels and to start asking them for more money. Yes, of course it's all about money. The RIAA and the labels know the numbers and reasons you cited. They are pursuing what they feel is a safer, more profitable route. The labels are culpable in all of this of course. I just think you need to cite and remember the root motive to all of this non-sense.
Good Luck!
Democrats and Republicans only disagree about how to enslave you
Between the dates mentioned (Jan. 1, 1995 to Dec. 22, 2000) I bought hundreds of CDs and LPs. "Up to $20 per claimant" does justice to someone who bought 5 or 10 CDs during that time... but completely screws those who bought a lot more.
I read the section on my legal rights which states...
I'd assume that I could opt out of the settlement group and then file a claim independently... but that sounds expensive and time consuming in order to (doubtfully) recover what would be, at most, a couple bucks per CD/LP (maybe $1K total if I calculated that way).
The other option, and maybe more preferable, would be to become a member of the settlement and then show up a the courthouse to object (Portland, ME is a couple hours away... could be an interesting/educational trip to be sure). Maybe if we could organize a small army of people from nearby with LARGE music collections to come and (hopefully) testify/object. What do you think folks? I'm game.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
The other day I was listening to NPR and they profiled James McMutry, a singer/song writer (he is the son of novelist Larry McMutry, who Lonesome Dove, etc). Larry has a new album out, Saint Mary of the Woods. NPR talked to him and played some samples of his music, which a kind of country/rock/folk fusion. I liked what I heard.
When I got home I jumped on Gnutella and found a song from his new CD and downloaded it. I liked it. Then I downloaded another and liked it too.
The next day I went out and bought the CD.
The RIAA can learn from this. Without being able to sample some songs so I could decide whether or not I wanted to buy the whole CD, I never would have plunked down my cash for an unknown (to me) artist. Thanks to Gnutella, James McMutry made a sale, and got a new fan.
CDE open sourced! https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/
It doesn't cost any *money* to steal, but stealing still has cost. Most notable is time cost -- it takes time to locate and download a song you want. And even then once you're done you can't be sure you didn't get a lot of data errors in the track or different songs in the album were recorded with different loudness, etc.
Agreed. This clearly shows that our large scale piracy systems still need improvement.
The price of freedom is eternal litigation.
No matter what the RIAA does to shamelessly promote the piracy issue, people who illegally download songs are no better. As I've said several times before, a very efficient way to ellicit a change in behavior is to change your own. Stop playing the game. Walk away. Forget the music produced by the RIAA members. Don't buy it, don't steal it...just forget it. What can the RIAA do? Can it pass laws forcing consumers to purchase a certain number of CD's per year? No...the fact is that it can't do anything but change its business model. Rest assured, the current m.o. of stealing and justifying it with a heavy dose of rationalization will accomplish nothing.