Slashdot Mirror
How iTunes Hurts Weird Al
Johnny X writes "Weird Al Yankovic recently said he makes far less money when you buy from iTunes than when you buy an actual CD. This guy did the math and showed that Weird Al could be losing up to 85% of his record sales income due to the 'weird' ways the record companies compute digital sales. Are all artists getting the shaft like this?"
He didn't seem to be complaining. He merely said he didn't understand why they want to take more out when there are fewer distribution costs.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Submitter's (?) blog references this, but here is Weird's Al's website where he actually talks about it ... his response on this topic is the 4th bold one down.
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They already do, actually. Read up on record contracts sometime. Many artists end up in massive debt due to their contracts and have to tour endlessly to pay it off. Fuck major labels. I'd trust Satan before I trust a record label.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Musicians will continue to "get the shaft" as long as they rely on majors.
One of the best references on the subject: Courtney Love Does The Math.
Five percent of one year's DoD budget puts us on Mars.
He's not the greedy one here.
I would also recommend Steve Albini's piece The Problem With Music.
What's the ugliest part of your body? Some say your nose, some say your toes, but I think it's your mind. -Zappa
Nope.
In fact, by even posting it on Slashdot, they've pretty much ensured that Weird Al would never make the song.
From the FAQ section of his site (http://www.weirdal.com/faq.htm):
"Can I send my song ideas to Al?
Sorry, for legal and personal reasons, Al does not accept song ideas from fans (he's got plenty warped ideas on his own!) You might try following in Al's footsteps by recording your songs and sending them to Dr. Demento - maybe you'll hear yourself on the radio!"
I've never met him, but I'm told that he's a really cool guy (a family member of mine who was working security at one of his shows talked to him for a bit). And of course, being the diehard fan that I am, I have quite a few of his albums.
-- Joe
It's kind of funny that the names of the companies involved haven't been mentioned, so I'll go ahead and do that: Al's current label is "Volcano" which is owned by "Zomba" which is owned by "BMG" which, of course, is part of the "Sony/BMG" ubercorporation...OMGWTFBBQ, I just realized! This is yet another anti-Sony story!
1) Great Singer
2) Very clever paraodies.
3) Albums contain a slew of hilarious original songs as well.
-If God wanted people to be better than me, he would have made them that way.
Have you ever seen a record contract? I work in the recording industry and I have.
They are usually about 70-90 pages of small print which are "the result of the accumulation of thousands of lawsuits through the years".
These contracts are written to minimize liability for the label and obviously maximize return. However, there is always a "this contract applies to any current, future, or past medium of distribution, seen or unforeseen etc..." clause written in. It is up to the artist and his attorney to negotiate that out of the contract if they feel the need to.
Libertas in infinitum
He's just lifted http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-2 0060428SonyBMGInDigitalMusicTrouble.html and replaced the 'Allman Brothers' with 'Weird Al'.
Artist royalties are generally standardised as a percentage of revenue that the label receives. If you're a big artist with some clout you can negotiate a better deal, but almost all artists will get a basic, low royalty deal. But it is based on record company revenues.
Of the couple of musicians I personally know with songs on iTunes and cds stocked in local stores, they firmly recommend that people buy through iTunes. This is solely because they will receive more money from each purchase - that is the lure with which labels have been drawn to iTunes. Weird Al might have negotiated himself a great deal for physical sales and a poor deal for digital, but on a basic / generic record contract the artist will assuredly get more from iTunes.
Weird Al is probably losing out on selling his filler tracks. On iTunes people often only buy a couple of tracks, rather than the full album. And that is truly the only way that an artist can lose on iTunes.
Musicians are not typically very business savvy people. There are exceptions of course, but it's a general rule. Even a successful musician is unlikely to be able to afford more than one lawyer and one accountant. The labels on the other hand have vast teams of people insuring that they squeeze every cent out of their talent and customers. The record industry has been pulling this kind of sneaky contract shit since the 20s to rip off talent.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!