The League

Sympathy for the Record Industry

by Rufus F. · January 7, 2013

Rufus F.

Rufus is a likeable curmudgeon. He has a PhD in History, sang for a decade in a punk band, and recently moved to NYC after nearly two decades in Canada. He wrote the book "The Paris Bureau" from Dio Press (2021).

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Glyph says:

January 7, 2013 at 3:35 pm

Wait, wait, wait…you mean that the ability for anyone, anywhere, at any time to access a preview (advertisement) for any of your products, and quickly and cheaply obtain the ones that appeal to them, increases yr ability to sell them?

Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.

HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSICReport
- Rufus F. in reply to Glyph says:
  
  January 7, 2013 at 3:43 pm
  
  Shhhhh! Nobody tell the musicians!Report
  - Glyph in reply to Rufus F. says:
    
    January 7, 2013 at 3:53 pm
    
    Oh no doubt. The companies will no doubt continue to claim that you are not owed a single cent, despite having played on 30 years’ worth of influential blues records or whatever.
    
    Seriously, people might look at the whole debate differently if the record industry hadn’t proved itself, time and again, to be full of dishonest conniving cheating jerkwads. I maintained then and now that all they needed to do was stop gouging, and people would have played along indefinitely.
    
    I STILL buy physical media when it is at or below the price point I have always considered the magic one – I’ll take a chance on most anything that seems intriguing if it’s $10 or under for CDs, a bit more for vinyl depending on what it is & how bad I want it.
    
    But they are starting to creep up on the download prices now (I still have eMusic, but am considering dropping it for this reason) and I swear sooner or later they will screw themselves again by trying to charge $17.99 for downloads because they just. cannot. help. themselves (remember when they said CD’s would come down from that ridiculous initial markup? Ha Ha! Good times).Report
    - Rufus F. in reply to Glyph says:
      
      January 7, 2013 at 4:09 pm
      
      It sort of depends on the label too. Some of the indies still pay the bands 50% of the album sales, and sometimes they even pay more. So, I feel very few qualms when I buy an album on a label like Dischord. Now, having known a lot of bands and indie labels and knowing a bit about how much these things actually cost to produce vs. what the majors charge for them, I’d never, ever advise any musician to sign to a major label without a really good lawyer.Report
      - Glyph in reply to Rufus F. says:
        
        January 7, 2013 at 5:04 pm
        
        If they are a good band, I’d advise them to never go to a major period. Not at this point. I am sure say Merge will treat them fairly, and get them as much exposure as can reasonably be expected in today’s landscape.
        
        Now, SST, if that were still a going concern? No way. There’s an indie that treated its bands as crappily as any major ever did. Plus botched a lot of otherwise-classic recordings by using an in-house producer (Spot) with no actual producing/recording abilities.Report
        
        dhex in reply to Glyph says:
        
        January 8, 2013 at 10:49 am
        
        invisible records, some bizarre, etc. lots of shoddy treatment indies out there.Report
Jaybird says:

January 7, 2013 at 5:09 pm

Speaking of music… GLYPH CHECK YOUR EMAIL!!!!Report
- Glyph in reply to Jaybird says:
  
  January 7, 2013 at 5:40 pm
  
  Ah, sorry dude, will do later tonight. My life has been a fair bit of chaos of late and I do forget that mailbox.Report