Well, according to Courtney's numbers which is what we're referring to, the band doesn't have to pay back money spent on marketing, etc. In her example of the 4.4 million dollars spent, only 2 million dollars of it had to be paid back by the band.
I have no idea how you're getting your numbers (The only ones I've seen are Courtney's math), and even in her example the band doesn't end off millions in debt.
See, according to the nicest recording contracts, the artist gets a small percentage of the gross. From that percentage the artist must pay back the record company for the cost of production and promotion
Of course the record company wants to get paid back before throwing any money back to the artist. This doesn't shock me at all.
but then, if the artist is succesfull, the artist pays back all of the money with their share of the profits. Not to mention that their share of the profits is very small, since the record company takes most of it.
Well gee, of course they have to pay back the 2 million dollars they owe!!! Why the heck should the record company take the hit? An artist knows what he's agreeing to when he signs up.
I'm not saying it doesn't suck for the artist, but he's still a heck of a lot further ahead then he was. He's popular! He didn't have to work at a 7-11 for the past year, instead he got 45 grand for having fun, going to parties. He had one of the coolest jobs in the world for a year.
And again, if he didn't sign up with the record label, where would he get the cash from? Once an artist has proven himself he has some weight and start negotiating better deals. But until then, he should be happy with what he can get.
So here's a company who invests a million dollars into a group of four guys who have talent.... and no other financial backing (I assume). Then another million dollars is invested into making some music videos for the band. They also invest a lot of money (4.4 million according to courtney) in marketing, publishing, manufacturing etc. She doesn't even mention things like cost of doing business, etc. (Record labels have employees).
So.... the record label has invested 6.4 million dollars into an artist....and they end up profiting 6.6 million.
If you ask me that sounds like the artists are getting a pretty good deal. Where else are they going to get 6.4 million dollars from without any finances of their own? And what happens if they fail? What about contacts, etc.
Not to mention what if that band fails and the record label comes out in the red...it's pretty easy to imagine losing a couple million dollars on an artist.
After putting it into perspective I really don't see what there is to get upset about.... If an artist wants to try it on his own, go for it. But if he wants to make it national, he's going to need lots of money and help.
No it's not the same way radio works you numbskull.
The radio stations pay royalties to play the music they do. More importantly, the songs played on radio stations are tracked and reported to the music industry so they can see how well an artists is doing.
There's definitely quite a few great games for PS2, it's just the amount of junk that turns me off.
And yeah, there's some garbage for Gamecube too, I just think the ratio is a little lower (which has a lot to do with the sheer number of titles available for PS2 which I think most people find is a good thing).
This reminds me of the later days of the original NES;..... I rented quite a few crappy games before I'd come across a gem like Little Ninja Brothers. On the other hand, there was no internet to get reader reviews from and stuff, which definitely helps in picking out the good PS2 games.
I find the Nintendo vs. Sony battle reminds me of Mac vs. PC. Nintendo lovers are *very* faithful to their brand, even if they have to wait a few months for their new console to have some decent software. Mac guys are the same way with their mac, they find the good points in Apple and deny the bad points.
Of course, I'm a PC guy:) And I know that there's crap out for PC, and you just have to stear clear of the masses to find the good stuff (which really isn't hard to find).
A few years ago I tried to colour photocopy a 5 dollar bill (canadian), and the photocopier won't do it, some type of copy protection. A really dark and inky greenblack rectangle comes out instead of the bill.
Re:The author of that article needs some cheese...
on
The Future of Ogg Vorbis
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Honestly...what kind of embedded system would have an Ogg player in it? Your microwave? A candy dispenser?
Seems silly now, but what if someone makes a talking microwave, or a talking candy dispenser. Compressing the audio files, even if it is just a voice, would save space.
I average 25km/hour (about 16MPH) on my bike ride to/from work. I hit 35km on straight-aways, and 50+ if I'm heading downhill. It's awkward enough passing other cyclists and worrying about cars veering into the bike lane (when there is a bike lane).
Plus I don't think these machines are maneuverable enough to be on the road (bike lane or no bike lane).
The segway moves forward to stay underneath you which keeps you from falling over. Like walking, it is a controlled fall.
Actually, what you do when you fall is just "miss" the ground. At that point you just sort of take off and start to fly...but don't think about it too much.
So in reality, even while riding the Segway, you're still as wide as you would be walking.
While walking on crowded streets you have to squeeze through by twisting your body... and that's while walking (about 5km/hour) as opposed to this thing running at 20km/hour.
I wonder how long until someone's foot gets run over and sues.
Besides, what's wrong with a bicycle? Cheaper, faster, and good exercise.
I'd love to be a teacher as well, and will get around to going through university someday, just don't have the cash right now.
Meanwhile after two years in the workforce I'm making as much as my mother did when she retired from teaching (and I have a few friends who make even more).
Once I have a home paid for I'll think about heading for school.
And I thought I wasted two years at Mohawk college taking networking and hardware, and now I code and do sysadmin work. I was laid off at my previous job last year, and luckily was working again 6 weeks later. I only had three interviews though; one had crappy pay; one would have been embarassing (sysadmin for gay porn adult check type site); and the one I'm working now.
Record companies probably are getting pretty scared. But even if an artist can distribute his own music over the net, he's still missing out on a lot. Selling music over the 'net still isn't a viable business model. It takes money, time, and connections in order to go national/international.
But I would really like new/unknown artists to have an equal chance, and without beeing ripped off by some company.
I can definitely agree with that. Rich kids get quite and advantage when starting off in the world as opposed to the poor. But does that mean we should kick the rich (the popular artists) out on the street, rather than helping out the poor (unknown artists)?
Of course that's what the system is right now, and it's being jeopardized. Thanks to big hit money-making boy bands, etc., record companies have more resources to hunt out newer artists and invest in some of these unknown guys.
When times get tight, it's hard not to hold onto known money making solutions and avoid taking risks.
I'll take it a step further. College professors routinely package articles, excerpts and other previously published material in reading packets for their classes.
Please tell me the difference between doing this and burning CD mixes or even entire discs for your own personal use, or as a favor to a friend, aside from the fact that the distribution scale is much lower with the CDs you might burn versus reading packets. If you're not selling it, what's the problem?
You're going to have a hard time convincing me that the Limp Bizkit CD you burned for your friend is for educational purposes.:-)
Seriously though, educational institutions are often granted some leeway with copyright law -- but more often or not, they exceed this and are violating copyright.
In fact, if you manage to get them to give a straight answer, they'll probably even tell you this kind of behavior is fine.
That has never and will never be the position of the RIAA.
I wasn't referring to the RIAA, but to record labels and artists themselves. The RIAA does hold a much more stringent position, but I know much less about them.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, according to Courtney's numbers which is what we're referring to, the band doesn't have to pay back money spent on marketing, etc. In her example of the 4.4 million dollars spent, only 2 million dollars of it had to be paid back by the band.
I have no idea how you're getting your numbers (The only ones I've seen are Courtney's math), and even in her example the band doesn't end off millions in debt.
See, according to the nicest recording contracts, the artist gets a small percentage of the gross. From that percentage the artist must pay back the record company for the cost of production and promotion
Of course the record company wants to get paid back before throwing any money back to the artist. This doesn't shock me at all.
but then, if the artist is succesfull, the artist pays back all of the money with their share of the profits. Not to mention that their share of the profits is very small, since the record company takes most of it.
Well gee, of course they have to pay back the 2 million dollars they owe!!! Why the heck should the record company take the hit? An artist knows what he's agreeing to when he signs up.
I'm not saying it doesn't suck for the artist, but he's still a heck of a lot further ahead then he was. He's popular! He didn't have to work at a 7-11 for the past year, instead he got 45 grand for having fun, going to parties. He had one of the coolest jobs in the world for a year.
And again, if he didn't sign up with the record label, where would he get the cash from? Once an artist has proven himself he has some weight and start negotiating better deals. But until then, he should be happy with what he can get.
You know what, if it shuts up those wanna-be ginos in their souped up cheap-ass Honda Civis -- I'm behind the RIAA 100%.
I'm sick and tired of hearing *thud* *thud* *thud* at every other red light.
So here's a company who invests a million dollars into a group of four guys who have talent.... and no other financial backing (I assume). Then another million dollars is invested into making some music videos for the band. They also invest a lot of money (4.4 million according to courtney) in marketing, publishing, manufacturing etc. She doesn't even mention things like cost of doing business, etc. (Record labels have employees).
So.... the record label has invested 6.4 million dollars into an artist....and they end up profiting 6.6 million.
If you ask me that sounds like the artists are getting a pretty good deal. Where else are they going to get 6.4 million dollars from without any finances of their own? And what happens if they fail? What about contacts, etc.
Not to mention what if that band fails and the record label comes out in the red...it's pretty easy to imagine losing a couple million dollars on an artist.
After putting it into perspective I really don't see what there is to get upset about.... If an artist wants to try it on his own, go for it. But if he wants to make it national, he's going to need lots of money and help.
In other words, the same way radio works.
No it's not the same way radio works you numbskull.
The radio stations pay royalties to play the music they do. More importantly, the songs played on radio stations are tracked and reported to the music industry so they can see how well an artists is doing.
It's hard for me to convince my boss to use Gnu GPL license products when the GPL text includes examples such as "Gnomovision version 69". :-)
And someonse has to:
1 post of the story in case the site gets slashdotted
:-)
There's definitely quite a few great games for PS2, it's just the amount of junk that turns me off.
:) And I know that there's crap out for PC, and you just have to stear clear of the masses to find the good stuff (which really isn't hard to find).
And yeah, there's some garbage for Gamecube too, I just think the ratio is a little lower (which has a lot to do with the sheer number of titles available for PS2 which I think most people find is a good thing).
This reminds me of the later days of the original NES;..... I rented quite a few crappy games before I'd come across a gem like Little Ninja Brothers. On the other hand, there was no internet to get reader reviews from and stuff, which definitely helps in picking out the good PS2 games.
I find the Nintendo vs. Sony battle reminds me of Mac vs. PC. Nintendo lovers are *very* faithful to their brand, even if they have to wait a few months for their new console to have some decent software. Mac guys are the same way with their mac, they find the good points in Apple and deny the bad points.
Of course, I'm a PC guy
Well, we did already have MacIntosh: Attack of the Clones; and we all know how that turned out :-)
Absolutely. Even with the good games the PS2 has, I'm turned off by the amount of crap that's out there for it too.
Of course here I am with my GameCube waiting for Mario.... and Zelda.... and Metroid....
A few years ago I tried to colour photocopy a 5 dollar bill (canadian), and the photocopier won't do it, some type of copy protection. A really dark and inky greenblack rectangle comes out instead of the bill.
Honestly...what kind of embedded system would have an Ogg player in it? Your microwave? A candy dispenser?
Seems silly now, but what if someone makes a talking microwave, or a talking candy dispenser. Compressing the audio files, even if it is just a voice, would save space.
I average 25km/hour (about 16MPH) on my bike ride to/from work. I hit 35km on straight-aways, and 50+ if I'm heading downhill. It's awkward enough passing other cyclists and worrying about cars veering into the bike lane (when there is a bike lane).
Plus I don't think these machines are maneuverable enough to be on the road (bike lane or no bike lane).
"A body on segway stays on segway unless presented with sufficient coinage."
:-)
But a body can't even get on a segway without sufficient coinage.... about $3000USD....
The segway moves forward to stay underneath you which keeps you from falling over. Like walking, it is a controlled fall.
;)
Actually, what you do when you fall is just "miss" the ground. At that point you just sort of take off and start to fly...but don't think about it too much.
Oh, and remember to bring a towel
More info on Segway available by phone
/. man.
By phone???? Seriously? Ever heard of the interweb for cryin' out loud?
Try: http://www.segway.com/. This *is*
So in reality, even while riding the Segway, you're still as wide as you would be walking.
While walking on crowded streets you have to squeeze through by twisting your body... and that's while walking (about 5km/hour) as opposed to this thing running at 20km/hour.
I wonder how long until someone's foot gets run over and sues.
Besides, what's wrong with a bicycle? Cheaper, faster, and good exercise.
I'd love to be a teacher as well, and will get around to going through university someday, just don't have the cash right now.
Meanwhile after two years in the workforce I'm making as much as my mother did when she retired from teaching (and I have a few friends who make even more).
Once I have a home paid for I'll think about heading for school.
And I thought I wasted two years at Mohawk college taking networking and hardware, and now I code and do sysadmin work. I was laid off at my previous job last year, and luckily was working again 6 weeks later. I only had three interviews though; one had crappy pay; one would have been embarassing (sysadmin for gay porn adult check type site); and the one I'm working now.
Some people, believe it or not, are quite happy making less money
Exactly, why else would anybody choose to be a teacher?
...with a new referencefile ( 108-23-04-02 ).
Download it from here.
Record companies probably are getting pretty scared. But even if an artist can distribute his own music over the net, he's still missing out on a lot. Selling music over the 'net still isn't a viable business model. It takes money, time, and connections in order to go national/international.
But I would really like new/unknown artists to have an equal chance, and without beeing ripped off by some company.
I can definitely agree with that. Rich kids get quite and advantage when starting off in the world as opposed to the poor. But does that mean we should kick the rich (the popular artists) out on the street, rather than helping out the poor (unknown artists)?
Of course that's what the system is right now, and it's being jeopardized. Thanks to big hit money-making boy bands, etc., record companies have more resources to hunt out newer artists and invest in some of these unknown guys.
When times get tight, it's hard not to hold onto known money making solutions and avoid taking risks.
I'll take it a step further. College professors routinely package articles, excerpts and other previously published material in reading packets for their classes.
:-)
Please tell me the difference between doing this and burning CD mixes or even entire discs for your own personal use, or as a favor to a friend, aside from the fact that the distribution scale is much lower with the CDs you might burn versus reading packets. If you're not selling it, what's the problem?
You're going to have a hard time convincing me that the Limp Bizkit CD you burned for your friend is for educational purposes.
Seriously though, educational institutions are often granted some leeway with copyright law -- but more often or not, they exceed this and are violating copyright.
In fact, if you manage to get them to give a straight answer, they'll probably even tell you this kind of behavior is fine.
That has never and will never be the position of the RIAA.
I wasn't referring to the RIAA, but to record labels and artists themselves. The RIAA does hold a much more stringent position, but I know much less about them.