Re: the CDs --> Liberate Music!

[Jeff & Vonda McLeod <subversive@mindspring.com>]

Chris,
        You've hit the nail on the head. This is exactly what I've been 
doing for
the past year and a half. I love it. I'm able to trade my music, sell it,
give it away. Total control. A friend with a studio or your own home unit,
a cd burner (mine's in the computer...) and a labelmaker kit . . . and
you're ready to go. I've got my own CD and am about to release my trio's.
So far, no one else will do it--so why the hell not, y'know?
Saw yer laters,
Jeff McLeod
http://members.xoom.com/Gezoleen/

At 08:29 PM 1/14/99 -0800, you wrote:

>Hey, that is a great idea!  I got a CD burner a few months ago, and have
>been using it like a mad fool.  I have been thinking about this very idea,
>which is, basically, to cut out the middle-men from the music industry:
>The artist sells directly to the consumer over the internet.
>
>1.  The manufacturing costs are gone.
>2.  The distribution costs are reduced - just server costs.
>3.  The artist gets ALL the profit.
>
>The consumer would benefit, as well, since the price of the product would
>surely drop with all the costs and middlemen cut out.
>
>I would even encourage artists to give their music away for FREE!   [Of
>course, at this point in my life, I am still the consumer, and not the
>artist, so I may be biased here.]  But here are some good arguments for
>doing this:
>
>1. The artist's music will be exposed to more people (namely, all the
>people who wouldn't have paid money to experiment, but was willing to give
>a listen if it were free).
>
>2. The artist can still make money selling PRODUCTS, (ie. cd's, tapes,
>t-shirts, etc.).  After all, not everyone has cd burners, so there will
>still be a demand for material products.
>
>Personally, I feel good about giving money to artists whose work inspires
>me, so I would still buy products (as I do now) from those folks who I
>considered to be QUALITY.  I would still download their music for free, 
>but
>I would be inclined to support them by going to their shows, buying their
>actual cd's, t-shirts, etc.  The way I see it, its a win-win for artists &
>consumers & the only ones who will lose with this scenario is the record
>companies and retail stores.....and I think I can live with that.
>(Besides, they can always merge with ISPs and become music servers).
>
>- chris