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User: lazyl

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  1. Hardly on Music and the Internet Reprise · · Score: 2, Insightful

    the record companies' utility has expired

    What would happen without record companies?

    Well artists still need to record thier music professionally, so maybe we would have smaller companies that just record for the artists.

    Now artists need to make some money (both to pay that recording company and for themselves) so somehow they have to sell thier music. Well, if they're a new artist that nobody's heard of then nobody will buy thier music. So they need to promote themselves. They only way thier promoting efforts will get them national exposure is if they contract a promoting agency to do it. If you think the web is good enough by itself then your living in a dream world. Maybe in 20 years. So now we need a promoting agency.

    Now they've got lots of exposure and lots of people around the country want to buy thier stuff. How are they going to distrubute thier music to everybody that want's to buy it? They need a publishing agency to do that. Again, the web isn't good enough.

    Now we've got a recording company, promoting company and a publishing company.

    Now lets say we've got an artist who's got a great song but he can't afford to pay the recording company and the promoting agency because he doesn't know if people will buy his music. Those companies will want to get paid no matter how many copies he sells. Most new artists won't be able to afford that risk.

    However if all those companies were combined into one company, then *that company* could take that risk because they have money. They could say "we like your music so we're going to take a risk and record, promote and try to sell you." If the artist flops; well then company loses out, but they have the capital to absorb the loss. An independant artist wouldn't.

    No my friend, the record companies utiltiy has most definetly *not* expired.