Honestly, the next person who tells me she rode Kurt's coattails is gonna make me want to spew. Nirvana was not that good a band, and the other members of the band (remember them?) were part of the creation process, too. A friend told me that when they were still a local band, Nirvana played at a campus party, and apparently, they were so bad by all reports that they didn't even stick around for the free beer.
Courtney, whatever you may think of her personally, is to this generation what Madonna was to the previous one. She's a hardline chick with balls who's not afraid of her intelligence OR her sexuality. She's also not afraid to use those advantages to her benefit.
Does she sell herself on outrageousness? Absolutely. Does this discredit her views, or her music? Hell, no.
Courtney's music is about the same things that her words here are about -- and those are the things we're discussing, no? She's doing something that's a lot more on target here than almost anyone else talking about the issue. But then, I think the whole artists-suing-Napster issue lost a great deal of credibility with Eminem, that no-talent, started directing his pottymouth at the Napster users. I can honestly assure the "gentleman" that I have never downloaded any of his so-called music, nor do I ever intend to do so.
As far as artists who are eloquent when speaking live and on the spot, check out the transcript of the Charlie Rose show where Chuck D of Public Enemy squared off against Lars Ulrich. It's available at this link if you haven't seen it yet.
Just some more thougths for y'all.
Chancery
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." -Albert Einstein
There were a billion music downloads last year, but music sales are up. Where's the evidence that downloads hurt business? Downloads are creating more demand.
Precisely. Ms. Love's right on the money here. What I want to know is why more bands aren't up in arms about the fact that they are expected to swallow the cost of thousands of promo CDs.
Promo CDs, for those who've been under a rock, are the "For Promotional Use Only" discs that get sent to reviewers, radio stations, and the like. Sounds like a perfectly legitimate use for those discs, right?
Think again. You know those CDs they sell through record clubs? Think the artist gets a full royalty from those sales? Wrong. Those are considered part of the promotional-copies budget at many companies.
A fairly standard provision in agreements with American artists is that they receive one-half their usual royalty rate on sales through clubs and that no royalties are payable on bonus or free records distributed by clubs.
-Syndey Shemel, "This Business of Music". 1990. 61.
In other words, if you buy CDs from a CD mail order club like Columbia House or BMG, you're shortchanging the artist as well -- and that's a legitimate, legal form of screwing musicians. The argument that "MP3s are taking away profits" is sort of disingenuous, given that the vast majority of the people I know use them the way they're used on the radio and in record store listening booths (IOW, "try-before-you-buy"), not as a replacement for the disc.
My belief is that Courtney Love is on the right track. Give folks a few songs for free on the band's Web site -- if the music's good, they'll buy the disc. Hell, after reading this, I'm going to buy her next disc. I've liked Hole's stuff in the past, and never found the discs not to be worth the $15 or so I spent on 'em. And just think... if she's that confident about it, I'll bet it doesn't suck like Reload.
Slashdot Mirror
Otherwise, this is a really well-thought-out presentation!
Courtney, whatever you may think of her personally, is to this generation what Madonna was to the previous one. She's a hardline chick with balls who's not afraid of her intelligence OR her sexuality. She's also not afraid to use those advantages to her benefit.
Does she sell herself on outrageousness? Absolutely. Does this discredit her views, or her music? Hell, no.
Courtney's music is about the same things that her words here are about -- and those are the things we're discussing, no? She's doing something that's a lot more on target here than almost anyone else talking about the issue. But then, I think the whole artists-suing-Napster issue lost a great deal of credibility with Eminem, that no-talent, started directing his pottymouth at the Napster users. I can honestly assure the "gentleman" that I have never downloaded any of his so-called music, nor do I ever intend to do so.
As far as artists who are eloquent when speaking live and on the spot, check out the transcript of the Charlie Rose show where Chuck D of Public Enemy squared off against Lars Ulrich. It's available at this link if you haven't seen it yet.
Just some more thougths for y'all.
Chancery
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." -Albert Einstein
There were a billion music downloads last year, but music sales are up. Where's the evidence that downloads hurt business? Downloads are creating more demand.
Precisely. Ms. Love's right on the money here. What I want to know is why more bands aren't up in arms about the fact that they are expected to swallow the cost of thousands of promo CDs.
Promo CDs, for those who've been under a rock, are the "For Promotional Use Only" discs that get sent to reviewers, radio stations, and the like. Sounds like a perfectly legitimate use for those discs, right?
Think again. You know those CDs they sell through record clubs? Think the artist gets a full royalty from those sales? Wrong. Those are considered part of the promotional-copies budget at many companies.
A fairly standard provision in agreements with American artists is that they receive one-half their usual royalty rate on sales through clubs and that no royalties are payable on bonus or free records distributed by clubs.
-Syndey Shemel, "This Business of Music". 1990. 61.
In other words, if you buy CDs from a CD mail order club like Columbia House or BMG, you're shortchanging the artist as well -- and that's a legitimate, legal form of screwing musicians. The argument that "MP3s are taking away profits" is sort of disingenuous, given that the vast majority of the people I know use them the way they're used on the radio and in record store listening booths (IOW, "try-before-you-buy"), not as a replacement for the disc.
My belief is that Courtney Love is on the right track. Give folks a few songs for free on the band's Web site -- if the music's good, they'll buy the disc. Hell, after reading this, I'm going to buy her next disc. I've liked Hole's stuff in the past, and never found the discs not to be worth the $15 or so I spent on 'em. And just think... if she's that confident about it, I'll bet it doesn't suck like Reload.
Chance
http://imc.dyndns.org