steevio wrote:I posted earlier on this subject, so my feelings on it are already clear, but i must admit i'm finding some of the posts a bit bizarre. Theres one thing which seems to have been overlooked, and that is the fact that someday all music will be sold as digital downloads. it's the only possible outcome.
The production of vinyl and CD's is a dirty, environmentally unsound way of transferring wave data from an artist to a listener. Have you ever been in a pressing plant ? It also relies on oil ! This is totally unsustainable.
I think the other issue here is whether musicians deserve to be paid for their output. Some of you apparently think not. I'm sorry but i cant accept that.
Musicians used to be skilled and highly regarded members of society, however it seems now anyone who can press a random button in some music software can produce a passable tune and bang it out on the net.
The real musicians are getting harder to find, but when i find anything i like, i have no worries about paying something to keep that musician producing. He is doing a job like anyone else, and he has to pay his bills to.
OK i agree with many of the sentiments about how the world revolves around money, but we are not talking about big corporate business here, this is about a musician being able to do what he does best and what he loves, and receive something for his time and effort to keep him doing it.
This doesnt inevitablly mean the demise of the free download net-label, theres plenty of people who are dedicated to that, to keep it alive, but why cant you accept that some musicians who want to make a carreer out of it, need to somehow make a living.
That said, our label will always run a free download service, but once vinyl and CDs are gone, we will have to charge for at least some downloads, we wont have any choice. How else will we keep the two people who work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week to run our label in jobs !
i've been going through this thread and the most sensible answer came from you steevio
i make music, i spend a lot of money and time doing it... but doing this just for free is simply pointless in the long run,
i don't believe in free music, end of the story
people who think music should be free because they don't have the money to pay for is a bullshit selfish opinion, it's disrespectfull and is very demotivating for any artists who want to achieve something through music (and i'm not talking about fame), music shouldn't be free at all unless it's for promotional purposes, i'm even surprised that people take free music for granted, but then again, they probably don't know the reality behind the struggle to get your music out there and being rewarded for it
(for the record i'm not a capitalist... but neither a communist)
i must admit that this discussion is necessary precisely because any netlabels to get into this option. i don´t feel happy about it.
