Circa 2003, I thought of a way to help bands gain their independence and, finally, level the playing field. My idea is called LIMB; League of Independent Musicians and Bands. For details, you can read my blog post on the topic. I know someone who used to work for the RIAA. He told me first hand that he didn't like their business practices and left. Yes, the RIAA deals a big blow to musicians, but the record label conglomerates don't help either. Many of them STILL take away the composers' copyrights to their intellectual property. Sure, a few musicians/bands get their fair share of reimbursement, but that doesn't stop the record labels from doing whatever they want with the music. "Oh, you want to take a couple of years off to spend time with your family? Well, you said that you'd crank out 5 albums in six years. You've only given us 4 albums. Don't worry. We'll release a 'Best of' and pocket all of the profits." And everyone knows that the RIAA frowns on bootlegging because it takes money out of their pocket; not the band's. You know there are thousands of bootlegs recorded directly from the soundboard. In many cases, probably not all, that's the band telling the sound crew, "Slip a little something out there for our fans so we don't have to spend money for studio time and other expenses to release an official live album." Sometimes these are even released by the band several years later as "official bootlegs". Heck, Genesis used to encourage the trading of bootlegs on their official site. Many other bands still do. I'm an amateur musician. If I ever did go pro, the only 2 record labels I'd consider are Discipline Global Mobile and RealWorld. All the conglomerates and the RIAA can take a long walk on a short pier.
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Circa 2003, I thought of a way to help bands gain their independence and, finally, level the playing field. My idea is called LIMB; League of Independent Musicians and Bands. For details, you can read my blog post on the topic. I know someone who used to work for the RIAA. He told me first hand that he didn't like their business practices and left. Yes, the RIAA deals a big blow to musicians, but the record label conglomerates don't help either. Many of them STILL take away the composers' copyrights to their intellectual property. Sure, a few musicians/bands get their fair share of reimbursement, but that doesn't stop the record labels from doing whatever they want with the music. "Oh, you want to take a couple of years off to spend time with your family? Well, you said that you'd crank out 5 albums in six years. You've only given us 4 albums. Don't worry. We'll release a 'Best of' and pocket all of the profits." And everyone knows that the RIAA frowns on bootlegging because it takes money out of their pocket; not the band's. You know there are thousands of bootlegs recorded directly from the soundboard. In many cases, probably not all, that's the band telling the sound crew, "Slip a little something out there for our fans so we don't have to spend money for studio time and other expenses to release an official live album." Sometimes these are even released by the band several years later as "official bootlegs". Heck, Genesis used to encourage the trading of bootlegs on their official site. Many other bands still do. I'm an amateur musician. If I ever did go pro, the only 2 record labels I'd consider are Discipline Global Mobile and RealWorld. All the conglomerates and the RIAA can take a long walk on a short pier.