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RE: Free Music



I did read an interview with Lars Ulrich from Metallica about Napster who
was very upset it cut into his profits. It seems the music being traded is
the most popular stuff- as someone said, you can't search for 'new music'
and get anything. I doubt Metallica or Britney Spears (2 of the most traded
mp3s) now need to save up for that 4th car due to Napster.
Yes, I've installed Napster, but I can't find music I am interested in.
Yes, Napster offers lots of free music, but the roadside fruit stand offers
a bucket of free fruit too, and most of it is rotten.
It seems Napser 'hurts' the most sucessful artists. What really is obscene
is the ticket prices to a Metallica show, or the fact a new CD cost close 
to
$18USD. How about the fact that the band sees maybe $1 for every CD sold.
And CDs cost less to make than cassettes.
Napster seems to be a record company problem, not an artist problem.
A portable CD player is like $50, a portable mp3 player is $250+ and there
will always be people who want to take the music with them wherever they 
go.
To top it of, Lars says: "We take our craft -- whether it be the music, the
lyrics, or the photos and artwork very seriously, as do most artists," "It
is therefore sickening to know that our art is being traded like a 
commodity
rather than the art that it is."

oh my, maybe this is the end of the music industry as we know it.

(full article here:
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/ptech/04/14/metallica.lawsuit.ap/index.html)

Dave Eichenberger- guitars.loops.devices
http://home1.gte.net/artmusic/dave




> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tiktok [mailto:tiktok@sprintmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2000 1:44 PM
> To: Looper's Delight
> Subject: Free Music
>
>
> 1) Everyone's for free music until it's their music they're not being
> *fairly* rewarded for.  One's definition of "fair" varies according to 
>the
> perception of how much money is being personally lost.
>
> 2) The "music industry" is not a synonymous term for "musicians".
> So, statements such as "Napster is a boon to the music industry, just as
> home taping was" are probably not cause for musicians to rejoice.
> Musicians benefit when they feel transported by playing music.
> People who are also musicians can benefit when they get paid for their
> music, since the last time I checked there was no Napster equivalent for
> gassing up your tour van or buying recording gear.
> Making music at anything above the dilettante/hobbyist level
> requires a lot
> of money.
>
> 3) The "rise of alternative music" was due to the Music Industry
> deciding to
> promote some Alternative bands, not to home taping.
>
>
> TH
>
> --
> "For over half a century rock 'n' roll music has acted as a kind
> of umbrella
> under which the noblest elements of society have gathered. Today, the 
>very
> word "rock" is a synonym for everything that's most decent, honorable and
> moderate in Western society. The model behavior of both its stars and 
>fans
> is eclipsed only by the probity and rectitude of the men and women at the
> business end -- that corps of managers, accountants and recording
> companies
> whose transparent honesty and compassion have made the industry such a
> pleasant environment for musicians to work in."
>
> --John Perry, from a discussion of the Napster situation
>
>