CD-Rs and MP3s Not Hurting Record Sales

David Gerard writes "Forget the industry shills' spin - the numbers prove that, for Australia, CD-Rs and MP3s are not hurting record sales in the slightest - based on a recent Australian Record Industry Association survey. It would be interesting to see what the numbers for the US or UK say."

Comments

Re:mp3s helped my sales!

[turnstyle]

"Yep, my band has had a bunch of sales because people can hear it free on my site, and I welcome trading."

But did you post a full CD worth of music, or just a few select tracks?

Do you think you should be able to make that decision?

Assuming that you only put up a limited selection, is it ok if people go ahead and share the rest of your music anyway?

Do you only welcome sharing work that you first decided to share, or do you also welcome sharing of all of your work, regarless of whether you decided to share?

"If you can hear it before you pay for it, and you like it, chances are you'll pay for it."

Well, that's just sillyness. If they already have what they want, they're not going to come back and pay if given a choice not to.

Let me see if I follow this...

[singularity]

Let me see if I get what you are saying:

1) Artists only get a few cents per album.
2) You think artists deserve more.
3) You therefore think it is right to not give them anything.

Am I the only one who sees a problem with this?

OK, so you are saying that the record labels get the majority of each CD sale and you do not like that fact. But you do realize you are punishing the already punished artist even more?

Of course, then there are people who look at recording artists driving expensive cars, living in huge mansions, and think that the people therefore have a right to take back and copy their albums (a Robin Hood type thing).

The only problem is that the people in Robin Hood were actively stealing from the poor. People *willingly* give money to artists for their music. This is capitalism, and there is nothing wrong with it. [1]

CDs Cost too much? Do not buy them. Enough people do that and CD prices will drop. It is simple supply and demand.

One thing I have discovered about Slashdot readers (and most people in the world): They are cheapskates. They say they would buy CDs if they were only $10. They say they would buy an iPod if they were only $100. They say they would buy a Macintosh if they were only $500.

My thoughts? Yeah, right...

As soon as CDs are $10, most Slashdot readers would be saying "Well, I would buy them when they are $3. It only costs a nickel to make! In the meantime, I am going to continue to download free MP3s. Compete with that!" [2]

As prices get lower, more and more people would purchase the item in question, but there would still be a vocal group on Slashdot that would continue to call for prices to go down even more.

[1] Oh, I forgot, most of us are in the U.S., and we default back to our Puritan beliefs that "rich" = "evil". We have a love/hate relationship with rich people. We would love to be rich, but we hate people who are rich.

[2] This process continues as prices get lower.