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?"

Comments

Re:eat it eat it

[Sancho]

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.

RTFA

[Chuck Chunder]

I am extremely grateful for your support, no matter which format you choose to legally obtain my music in, so you should do whatever makes the most sense for you personally. But since you ASKED

Read it on "Wierd Al's" actual website

[xmas2003]

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.

Re:So what's new?

[kimvette]

Pretty soon, the artists will have to PAY the record companies for the priviledge of getting screwed.

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.

Re:The Shaft

[Geno Z Heinlein]

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.

Re:New name

[sketerpot]

Fuck you, asshole. Here's what Weird Al actually said:

Tim Sloane of Ijamsville, MD asks: Al, which of these purchasing methods should I use in order to make sure the most profit gets to you: Buying one of your albums on CD, or buying one of your albums on iTunes? I am extremely grateful for your support, no matter which format you choose to legally obtain my music in, so you should do whatever makes the most sense for you personally. But since you ASKED... I actually do get significantly more money from CD sales, as opposed to downloads. This is the one thing about my renegotiated record contract that never made much sense to me. It costs the label NOTHING for somebody to download an album (no manufacturing costs, shipping, or really any overhead of any kind) and yet the artist (me) winds up making less from it. Go figure.

He's not the greedy one here.

Re:The Shaft

[Poppler]

I would also recommend Steve Albini's piece The Problem With Music.

Re:Still getting the raw end of the deal?

[Babbster]

Forget the RIAA, Weird Al's record label is definately the entity in charge.

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!

Re:Still getting the raw end of the deal?

[DashEvil]

1) Great Singer
2) Very clever paraodies.
3) Albums contain a slew of hilarious original songs as well.

Have you ever seen a record contract?

[SonicSpike]

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.

Re:Still getting the raw end of the deal?

[colmore]

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.