Actually, the figures I've heard put the percentage that the artist(s) get at much less than 10%. I think the usual deal is more like 4-5%. As someone commented elsewhere, artists don't make most of their money from CD sales. What having a CD that goes platinum or whatever does for a band is create a market for live concerts which is where most bands make the majority of their money. It seems to me that putting your mp3 file on mp3.com or amp3.com would serve the same purpose.
Also, the major labels are only interested in bands that have a sound that will, in the opinion of the company suits, appeal to large numbers of the 18-35 y/o set. If your band doesn't fit their profile, you won't get signed anyway. OTOH, I've found some really great bands on mp3 and amp3 that I'd never have heard of otherwise and ended up buying CDs from them. It seems like a quite a few indie labels are using the legit mp3 sites to promote their artists.
As a musician, I'm really excited about mp3! When my new band gets to the point of making a recording (hopefully, in the Spring of next year!) we will be putting some tracks on one or more of the legit sites. It just seems to me to be the cheapest route to international exposure.
There seems to be some variation among MicroCenter locations. The store I go to on the North Side of Chicago had had it in a section for OS software along with Windoze and OS/2 for a couple of years now. I've bought the last 3 SuSE distros there, so they aren't really newbies when it comes to SuSE.
I'd just like to point out here that medical degrees are among the most expensive degrees out there. Also, the cost of malpractice insurance is truely breathtaking (e. g. 10 years ago, it cost an OB/Gyn $250K for malpractice insurance, more if she delivered babies) and managed care is limiting the amount that doctors can charge. Point is: Being a doctor isn't necessarily is lucrative as most people think.
IANAL, but I have worked in non-profits before and people do get paid for working for them, so that doesn't exempt/. What differentiates AOL from/. is that AOL expects to turn a profit after paying its operating expenses, which include employee compensation and benes. The fact that/. is a '.org' domain means that IS a non-profit (doesn't it?) which would mean that it could use volunteers.
According to a recent article on Wired (http://www.mp3.com) the artist gets about 10% of the cost of a CD from a major label. OTOH, if you upload a tune to mp3.com and use their CD production and distribution service, you get 50%. My band hasn't tried that yet, but we probably will when we do our CD this summer. I don't think that people should pirate CDs for mp3s but I think that places like mp3.com sound like a great way to by-pass the major labels with their legions of suit-wearing dirtbags. FWIW.
It seems to me that the people who are scared sh*tless about the march of technology are not people who're likely to be mucking about with programming Open Source or otherwise. Rather, they are the end users. Given that, its hard to see how Open Source Software will mollify their fears. What Open Software might allow is for more people to influence the functionality of the software they use, since it makes it possible for a user to take a program whose functionality is not appropriate for them to an in-house programmer to fix. Boy would I like to be able to do that with Word 7! *grin* That sort of thing would lower people's frustration with technology, perhaps.
I do think you're right that in-person shopping isn't going away anytime soon, since as you say, most Americans aren't on the Net yet. In any case, I think most people have a higher comfort level with buying some things (clothes, for example) in a store where they can examine and try on the merchandise.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, the figures I've heard put the percentage that the artist(s) get at much less than 10%. I think the usual deal is more like 4-5%. As someone commented elsewhere, artists don't make most of their money from CD sales. What having a CD that goes platinum or whatever does for a band is create a market for live concerts which is where most bands make the majority of their money. It seems to me that putting your mp3 file on mp3.com or amp3.com would serve the same purpose.
Also, the major labels are only interested in bands that have a sound that will, in the opinion of the company suits, appeal to large numbers of the 18-35 y/o set. If your band doesn't fit their profile, you won't get signed anyway. OTOH, I've found some really great bands on mp3 and amp3 that I'd never have heard of otherwise and ended up buying CDs from them. It seems like a quite a few indie labels are using the legit mp3 sites to promote their artists.
As a musician, I'm really excited about mp3! When my new band gets to the point of making a recording (hopefully, in the Spring of next year!) we will be putting some tracks on one or more of the legit sites. It just seems to me to be the cheapest route to international exposure.
Wolfman
There seems to be some variation among MicroCenter locations. The store I go to on the North Side of Chicago had had it in a section for OS software along with Windoze and OS/2 for a couple of years now. I've bought the last 3 SuSE distros there, so they aren't really newbies when it comes to SuSE.
I'd just like to point out here that medical degrees are among the most expensive degrees out there. Also, the cost of malpractice insurance is truely breathtaking (e. g. 10 years ago, it cost an OB/Gyn $250K for malpractice insurance, more if she delivered babies) and managed care is limiting the amount that doctors can charge. Point is: Being a doctor isn't necessarily is lucrative as most people think.
IANAL, but I have worked in non-profits before and people do get paid for working for them, so that doesn't exempt /. What differentiates AOL from /. is that AOL expects to turn a profit after paying its operating expenses, which include employee compensation and benes. The fact that /. is a '.org' domain means that IS a non-profit (doesn't it?) which would mean that it could use volunteers.
I understand that you can have that stick removed from your ass on an out-patient basis these days...
Your friendly neighborhood wolfman
According to a recent article on Wired (http://www.mp3.com) the artist gets about 10% of the cost of a CD from a major label. OTOH, if you upload a tune to mp3.com and use their CD production and distribution service, you get 50%. My band hasn't tried that yet, but we probably will when we do our CD this summer. I don't think that people should pirate CDs for mp3s but I think that places like mp3.com sound like a great way to by-pass the major labels with their legions of suit-wearing dirtbags. FWIW.
It seems to me that the people who are scared sh*tless about the march of technology are not people who're likely to be mucking about with programming Open Source or otherwise. Rather, they are the end users. Given that, its hard to see how Open Source Software will mollify their fears. What Open Software might allow is for more people to influence the functionality of the software they use, since it makes it possible for a user to take a program whose functionality is not appropriate for them to an in-house programmer to fix. Boy would I like to be able to do that with Word 7! *grin* That sort of thing would lower people's frustration with technology, perhaps.
I do think you're right that in-person shopping isn't going away anytime soon, since as you say, most Americans aren't on the Net yet. In any case, I think most people have a higher comfort level with buying some things (clothes, for example) in a store where they can examine and try on the merchandise.