A musician's message on the music world and piracy

Just though this was interesting to post in the PA. Originally found it on stmusic.org

"The artist also known as The Flashbulb has released his latest album in lossless quality (FLAC and V0 are now available with links below) to What.cd and his blog, and the message has spread through Digg. The album includes the following explanation in an html file:

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Hello listener...downloader...pirate...pseudo-criminal...

If you can read this, then you've more than likely downloaded this album from a peer to peer network or torrent.
 
You probably expect the rest of this message to tell you that you're hurting musicians and breaking just about every copyright law in the book. Well, it won't tell you that.

What I would like to tell you is that my record label understands that a large portion of people pirate music because it is easier than buying it. CDs scratch easily, most pay-per-download sites have poor quality and sh*tty DRM protection, and vinyl is near impossible to find or ship without hassle.
In many cases I wonder why people buy CDs at all anymore. A few like the tangible artwork, some haven't adapted to MP3s yet, but most do it because they have a profound love for music and want to support the artists making it. Kind of restores your faith in humanity for a moment eh?

So, now what?
Like the album? About to go "support the artist" on iTunes?
Well, don't.
Alphabasic is currently in a legal battle against Apple because NONE of our material (Sublight Records included) receives a dime of royalty from the vast amount of sales iTunes has generated using our material.

Want to buy a CD just to show your support?
If you don't particularly like CDs, don't bother.
Retailers like Best Buy and Amazon spike the price so high that their cut is often 8 times higher than the artist's. Besides, most CDs are made out of unrecyclable plastic and leave a nasty footprint in your environment.

If you do particularly like CDs, buy them from the label (in our case, alphabasic.com). After manufacturing costs are recuperated, our artists usually receive over 90% of the actual money coming out of your wallet.
In addition, all of our physical products are made out of 100% recycled material.

Want to show your support?
Go here and browse our library of lossless, DRM-free downloads.
Already have that?
Then feel free to donate whatever you want to your favorite artist. 100% will go directly to them.
Hell, you can even donate a penny just to thank the artist.

If you really like 'The Flashbulb - Soundtrack To A Vacant Life' and want to show your support without it going to greedy retailers, distributors, and coked-up label reps, then click the button below.
If you send us your mailing address, Alphabasic may occasionally send you various goodies (overstocks, stickers, even rare CDs) in appreciation and encouragement for your support.

< ="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> < name="cmd" value="_s-xclick" =""> < ="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!" border="0" =""> < name="encrypted" value="-----BEGIN PKCS7-----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-----END PKCS7-----" =""> Thanks for reading.
Who knows if my little business plan here will work to fund new releases, but even failure is better than the crappy label/distributor/retailer system musicians have suffered from for over 50 years.
We hope you enjoy the music as much as we do releasing it.
Finally, if you plan on sharing this release, please include this file. The only reason it is here is to show the listener where he can support his favorite artists!

Benn Jordan
CEO - Alphabasic Records

I basically agree with what he's saying. I'd like to recommend cdbaby.com once more:

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=37965

It has the same approach - most of the money you pay for the CD or download goes directly to the artists.

Historical fact: too many rock (and jazz) musicians who appear to do well wrt sales, end up getting ripped off by the record companies and/or their agents. Also still a sad fact that copyright to many a band's performance on record is the property, for a significant time, of the record company. Have to ask the question: if a CD fully packaged is manufactured for under 50pence, why it is wholesale price around 10 quid and  it can be sold in UK record stores for around 15 quid (and don't blame VAT)? One prog rock band leader told me that if they go completely independent and make and sell direct their own Cds, that they can survive and record the next album on annual sales of 5000 or 6000 - whilst a record label demands 50.000 units sold of each album or the the postive risk of being dropped by the label.

Dick Heath wrote: Historical fact: too many rock (and jazz) musicians who appear to do well wrt sales, end up getting ripped off by the record companies and/or their agents. Also still a sad fact that copyright to many a band's performance on record is the property, for a significant time, of the record company. Have to ask the question: if a CD fully packaged is manufactured for under 50pence, why it is wholesale price around 10 quid and  it can be sold in UK record stores for around 15 quid (and don't blame VAT)? One prog rock band leader told me that if they go completely independent and make and sell direct their own Cds, that they can survive and record the next album on annual sales of 5000 or 6000 - whilst a record label demands 50.000 units sold of each album or the the postive risk of being dropped by the label.   BTW has anybody got the financial breakdown of  why to buy an MP3 track via Apple's site, cost 79p - what's that, over 50% profit for Apple?

I'm sure that Apple won't give any detailed figures ...

I can only recommend cdbaby.com once more ... their mp3s may be a bit pricey, but 91% of the revenue goes directly to the artists.

^ The price for mp3s at Amazon.com is a lot lower ... typically between $5 and $10. And at cdbaby.com the downloads average at $10. I think it's a fair deal, given that they're really high quality.