Toker41 said:
Now to my point.....if it is so much cheaper....why does a CD still cost $16, and the artist, on average, still only sees about 10 cents per CD sold? Why are the "savings" not passed down to the consumer, OR the artist? We were sold on this idea by the industry so that they may profit more. Period. Not because it was "better", but because it was cheaper to mass produce.
Don't bother to feed me a bunch of crap about "marketing expenses", because I worked in the field for years, as well as in distributing, and I am all to aware of the mark up. "Pirating" is a hype word used as an excuse by the industry to inflate prices. Period. It does not have a measurable impact on sales. The industry can not prove that a person that "stole" the program, or music, would have bought it if they couldn't get it for free, and studies show that most would not. So how does one "estimate" the amount lost on sales that never would have happened, and work that into the price of the product, claiming it is to "recoup" the loss? Again, I don't see much of that "lost" money being put into anti-piracy measures to keep it from happening in the first place (which do exist, but are not widely used). No one here has yet to post a good counter point to that. It's kinda like the way Airlines, and insurance companies claim to lose billions of dollars each year, yet stay in business. Smoke and mirrors.
Couldn't agree with you more man.
The whole thing about marketing expenses. I've noticed that these labels are doing less and less to actually market the artists they sign. It seems they are expecting more and more money for less and less work on their part. That could be part of why most of the music out there isn't from anyone who hasn't been well known for some time now. It's a big insestual swingers party and almost the entire creative community isn't invited. I think they are spending FAR less money in marketing costs, as well as the fact that with advances in recording equipment costs, and different choices we have now (not just going into the big studio on a lockout for everything, really good quality gear for hardly anything), it greatly reduces the cost of recording. They have no excuse for their prices. NONE.
I would say prices of these products, if anything, INCREASE piracy, since less people can afford it, they have to get what they need to do their work, or aquire the music that they love in a way that they can afford. The only reason I ever "pirate" any software or music is because I can not afford it at the time, or simply the people who make it are such pricks that I wouldn't give them a penny even if I were a multi billionaire. All of the major media companies are screwing litterally everyone except for themselves, and the politicians they pay to look the other way. The musicians are screwed by it. The consumers are screwed by it. Price fixing is illegal, so are well...pretty much most of the things these SOBs do in their day to day business. Don't even get me started on companies like Clear Channel. There's no way they could continue to do business for a single day longer if they suddenly stopped lining politicians' pockets. They'd probably end up in prison. Most of their hubbub of piracy is due to their loss of total market control, and the fact that now they are forced to compete with other ways of getting music. Now, people don't HAVE to buy music that goes through their channels. Why else would the RIAA fight against artists who wish to release mp3 versions of their music for free online? Why else would the RIAA fight against independant internet radio? (I smell clear channel in that one). And as said before...why else would artists still get such a shitty deal, when the label gets so much? So, people have the nerve to get some music without giving them their cut. Remember when the big 5 lables tried to get iTunes stopped? Remember when Sony records bought mp3.com, (at the time, mp3.com was one of the most increadible strides in helping artists get their music out to people, without lining the pockets of the big media mogouls) only to wait for a few years until everyone forgot about the site, and relaunch it as basically a giant advertizement for Sony Records' artists. I mean, come on. Even when you pirate they get money. There are taxes on recordable media that goes straight to them. I believe even hard drives aren't exempt from this tax. So, if you buy dvdrs or cdrs, even if it's strictly to backup your recording sessions, they get a cut, and a pretty big one at that. They're far from losing any money, and far from hurting. I think it's a great analogy that you said about the airlines and such. It's the same freaking problem. Lobbyists throwing money at all the politicians and therefore making policy, and causing the folks that should put those sheisters into jail to look the other way, and even encourage their illegal business models. They're just as bad as the fucking oil companies, and pharmaseutical companies.
As far as pirating software...some of the prices of these pieces of software are rediculous. The new photoshop CS3 costing almost $2,000 ??? That costs almost as much as my enitre computer. Logic is pretty expensive, but at least you get TOOOOONS of stuff with it (5gb of halfway decent loops, tons of good effects (which are still sometimes just as useable as the top plugins on the market) and really good softsynths. Plus a very configurable and complex program with a lot of horsepower behind it.)Why is it that we have companies such as ohmforce, PSP, and Audio Damage (among many others) who are making jaw dropping audio software (Audio Damage...WOW! plugs like reverance are so nice) and effects for a very reasonable price. I mean, come on...some of these plugins, like URS costing THAT MUCH??? My license of Logic cost not much more than one of their plugin packs. Of course piracy will be rampant. What do they expect? Some people use the excuse that you're paying a premium for pro level tech support. The tech support that I've gotten from any pro software companies has been so far below that of consumer electronics or consumer software companies that I've dealt with. I also find that a lot of software on the pro level, even software that I absolutely love, is much buggier than a lot of consumer software.
Anyway. When all is said and done. Piracy is neither great nor terrible. I always do my best to support software developers and musicians that I enjoy. There are a lot of really great software developers who aren't affiliated with these giant corporations that do actually deserve people's support. I always do my best to purchase, and often do, but I can't say I don't have "aquired" plugins or software that I use.
Also, as a side note about buying music. I spend MUCH more money on music as a result of things like soulseek and bit torrent. It's a really great way of exploring new music, and it's always much nicer to have the actual physical album. Much better quality, and visual art (however, that's starting to get lax with the quality of the packaging. This, I guess is another way that these companies have lessened their investment ammount and kept the price the exact same.)
