Agile Tortoise
Greg Pierce’s blog
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Grammys speech
The RIAA president just used the grammys show as a platform to tug at our heartstrings and say how illegally downloading music is robbing musicians of their livelihood. It just isn’t true. It’s the distribution chain that’s getting robbed, and they deserve it. They’re charging outrageous prices for CDs, which the artists see essentially $0 from. Take a look back at Steve Albini’s excellent commentary to understand how this really works.
The RIAA prez also claimed it was especially the promising young artists that were hurt. Again…I cry foul, on behalf of the thousands of promising young artists that never get a chance because they can’t compete with the stranglehold the labels have on the distribution channel. The average big label currently rotates a roster of about a dozen artists at a time. Think about how much you’re missing because of that.
Support small labels. Support local artists. Support breaking down the distribution channel.
February 28th, 2002 at 7:21 am
More evidence supporting the value of free distribution of music. ( via Jim )