Andrew Lloyd Weber Trashes The Internet As 'Somalia Of Theft And Piracy'

from the stick-to-the-music dept

Thu, Apr 9th 2009 1:12am — Mike Masnick

Nathan was the first of a few folks to send in the news of Andrew Lloyd Weber's quotes complaining about how the internet is the "Somalia of unregulated theft and piracy." Funny. I thought Somalia was the "Somalia of unregulated theft and piracy." Lloyd Weber seems to make the same basic false economic assumption that many other folks have made: believing that the only way to make money is through the direct sale of recorded music. So he bemoans the fact that sales are down, and immediately blames piracy and (of course) ISPs for enabling it. He doesn't take into account things like how internet connectivity has actually made the market more efficient (which should lower prices) and the overall competition for entertainment dollars has increased greatly (while the music industry has done little to give people more reasons to buy). But, most importantly, he seems totally unaware of the fact that there are other business models beyond just selling recorded music. His claim that the music industry in the UK will be dead in 10 years is silly. Does he think that no one will pay him to write music for plays anymore? Oh... whoops, right there is a perfect example of a different way to pay for the creation of music.

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Filed Under: andrew lloyd weber, piracy

38 Comments

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Claes, 9 Apr 2009 @ 1:25am

Andrew Lloyd Weber: “The question that occurs to me is whether, in 10 years time, Britain will be a place that the Beatles could have emerged from”

The question to me is whether, in 10 years time, Britain will be a place where people even want to live...
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Apr 2009 @ 1:54am

Andrew needs to get back to producing
Who the hell is Andrew Lloyd Weber?

I know of an Andrew Lloyd Webber-- he's the jackass who brought us crappy songs from BoyZone (Universal), and songs from the crappy Madonna Film Evita under the Warner Label.

Don't cry for me Argentina... err Andrew. Get back stage left and run the damned show.
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Madhu Kumta, 9 Apr 2009 @ 2:00am

Name recognition
Sad that the industry needs to get a Broadway Producer to speak on behalf of the business it can't manage.
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dssstrkl, 9 Apr 2009 @ 2:03am

Here's a better idea
Could we start a fund to pay him to NOT make any more musicals? His craft is a pox on society and should be ground out whenever possible.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Apr 2009 @ 2:14am

Re: Here's a better idea
Oh Please! Tell you what, I'd setup a Paypal account right now for it, but Mike has that function locked down.

Instead, why not click here to give free food to starving Children...

It's something better than what Andrew could ever ask to do.
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bubba, 9 Apr 2009 @ 2:18am

he's right!
If you ever bought a ticket online to one of his insipid musicals you would be in complete agreement!

I wonder why he lets them sell tickets online then?
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Apr 2009 @ 2:23am

Cats? Are you kidding me? CATS? Good Lord, Andrew Lloyd Webber your a tool.
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Matt, 9 Apr 2009 @ 2:25am

Okay, to be fair, I love most of his musicals (Cats is an exception -- what a piece of crap).

I don't get how he thinks selling music is a huge piece of his profits, though. You'd think he'd be more concerned about SELLING TICKETS TO HIS @#$!ING MUSICALS.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Apr 2009 @ 2:50am

Drums Please...
Where are you right now? Have you considered your fighting an uphill battle?

Look to your right and look to your left. What do you see? Above you, you probably see trusses with lights with various colored gobos on them, probably controlled by a DMX controller. Ahead of you, there's empty seats, the pit is probably empty too.

What is your area of expertise? The Internet? Wow. Let's talk about an IP addresses, because your an expert of everything internet.

Here's a softball for you:
Let's say your computer has an address of 10.1.7.100. What subnet is it? Are you on a class A,B,C network? Can you provide an example of the other two network classes? Is 10.1.7.100 a private address or not? Can you tell me how you came to that conclusion?

Just know being a tool has its rewards, which will be forthcoming.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Apr 2009 @ 3:19am

Re: Drums Please...
wat?
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Gudmund's Daughter, 9 Apr 2009 @ 3:35am

re: 10 Drums Please - wat?
He thinks he's Magnus Magnusson.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Apr 2009 @ 4:03am

Re: Re: Drums Please...
Oh, do I have to spell everything out for you? Said comment is meant to be read by Andrew Lloyd Webber (which is still misspelled in the title) Perhaps the editor didn't read number 2 yet.
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Cap'n Jack (profile), 9 Apr 2009 @ 4:06am

Re: Drums Please...
Lay off the bong, dude. At least until after you've posted.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Apr 2009 @ 4:07am

Re: re: 10 Drums Please - wat?
Sorry, the only Magnusson I know is that of a different spelling-- Magnuson, as in "Magnuson Moss" Warranty Act.

He has a park named after him in Seattle.

Thanks.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Apr 2009 @ 4:13am

Re: Re: Drums Please...
WTF is it with all the drug references here as of late?
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Pope Ratzo, 9 Apr 2009 @ 5:11am

Re:
“The question that occurs to me is whether, in 10 years time, Britain will be a place that the Beatles could have emerged from” Let's hope that Britain becomes a place where no more Andrew Lloyd Webers come from. That old fruit should just shut up.
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JohnForDummies (profile), 9 Apr 2009 @ 5:24am

Of course he's right you know. Because before the internet, people had no way of sharing music with each other at all. Nope. Piracy and song sharing were created when Al Gore invented the internet.

What I don't get is... what does Andrew Lloyd Weber have to worry about? Who wants to listen to his "music" anyway? His sales aren't suffering because people are sharing his crap -- his sales are in decline because the only people who care about him are dying of old age.
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The Phantom, 9 Apr 2009 @ 5:38am

I demand Webber apologize!
I demand Webber apologize!

If these demands are not met, a disaster beyong your imagination will occur!

Oh... and I want a fruit basket too!

And... a shubbery...
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Jack Sombra, 9 Apr 2009 @ 5:53am

"The question that occurs to me is whether, in 10 years time, Britain will be a place that the Beatles could have emerged from"
Everytime there is some tech advancement that affects the entertainment industry some tool comes out and says something like this. First it was TV, then home video recorders now it's the internet

Simple truth is some in industry will adapt and grow even richer, others will not and become part of history
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Robert W, 9 Apr 2009 @ 6:29am

Andrew LLoyd Weber
I'd say his revenues *might* be declining because he hasn't written a hit show since Sunset Blvd. more than 20 years ago; everything since has been a flop. But that's just a guess...
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Shawn, 9 Apr 2009 @ 6:33am

Andrew Lloyd Weber?
I thought he was dead . . . hes certainly not relevent anymore? He should team up with that annoying American Idol guy . . . next Broadway Idol . . . Bravo will love it!
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Digital Sniper, 9 Apr 2009 @ 6:52am

Have your cake and eat it too!
It's amazing how much people in the entertainment industry complain about down sales and piracy. The real problem is their business model which provides a focused point of sale at the register is under attack from the vast entity known as the internet. Instead of making $50 million dollars they are only making $20 million. WTFO?

If the masses want a cheaper product, you better get it to them or you will really endanger yourself. Now that the cat is out of the bag, you can either evolve or fade, just like Jack Sombra already stated. If he wants more money, find some alternate revenue streams and STFU.
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SunKing, 9 Apr 2009 @ 6:58am

On a positive note (every cloud has it's silver lining, right?) being a total clueless dumbass seems to be no barrier at all to being successful. There's hope for us all !!
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Weird Harold, 9 Apr 2009 @ 7:28am

...and if he had said that piracy was great, you all would be holding him up as a shining example of how "even old people get it".

You can almost hear the sheep baaaah-ing around here sometimes.
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BigKeithO, 9 Apr 2009 @ 7:49am

Re:
But he didn't say piracy was great... So, what was your point again?

Sheep? Perhaps just people with a similar viewpoint? If this blog and the people who comment on it are so stupid and offensive to you why do you comment on every single story Mike posts? Your comments have changed from something semi-intelligent to flat out insults. Why continue?
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Esahc (profile), 9 Apr 2009 @ 7:52am

Re: Andrew Lloyd Weber?
Seriously, don't give them ideas!
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Weird Harold, 9 Apr 2009 @ 7:54am

Re: Re:
Read the posts Big Keith, it's not a group of peoplewith a similar viewpoint, it's a pile on. Someone kicked him down, and everyone else realized it was okay to kick him.

You may not like Andrew Lloyd Webber's material (I am not a big theatre fan, but I can appreciate the difficulty in writing both a song and a story, at the same time), but you have to admit that he is one of the very successful writers and composers of our times.

The posters may not agree with his point, but telling someone of this stature to "STFU" and calling him a "total clueless dumbass" just goes to show to what level certain people are willing to go. Tar and feathers for those who don't agree.
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magnafides, 9 Apr 2009 @ 8:14am

Re: Re: Re:
Welcome to the Internet, enjoy your stay.
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Michael, 9 Apr 2009 @ 8:24am

Well good.
I'm glad to hear it from this guy, he is one of those dinosaurs we hope get shoved out to begin with. Irrelevant old and useless.
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Broadway Angel (profile), 9 Apr 2009 @ 8:32am

Re:
A large part of profit from musicals comes from merchandising. Tee shirts, posters, soundtrack albums, you get the idea.

After a show closes, few products continue to sell with the exception of the soundtrack recording. I have vintage albums from the original cast recording of Camelot, Bye Bye Birdie and other shows that have ceased being produced professionally.

So, piracy is a convenient excuse for why soundtrack sales drop and kill off the cash cow for shows. What they don't mention is people buy the albums, rip them, then sell the hard copy. I pick up most of my soundtracks at flea markets now, for a fraction of the list price.

Nearly half of all musicals don't make their initial investments back, except for the rare show that plays for over 5 years. Development costs, theater rentals, cast and crew, ushers, box office staff all take about 75% of the show's gross income each performance. The bigger the show, the larger the costs.

And given that most Broadway shows don't run more than 4 or 5 years (Phantom, Cats, Les Miz being the rare exceptions) any profit to come from most shows is the merchandising. Some shows don't break even or profit until several years after they close. And the reason they finally do is because of the merchandise sales.
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BigKeithO, 9 Apr 2009 @ 9:02am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
I'm going to have to agree with magnafides. This isn't something specific to Techdirt or to this Andrew Lloyd Weber story, this is just the interwebs spreading their vision of world peace. ;)

Just venture on to any message board you choose, they are all the same. Don't agree with a viewpoint? Well chances are you are going to get "tar and feathered" as well. Actually I am surprised you don't know this WH, you get your fair share of abuse around here these days!
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Nathan, 9 Apr 2009 @ 9:27am

As Stewie says, "You're the worst thing to happen to musical theater since Andrew Lloyd Weber."
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angry dude, 9 Apr 2009 @ 11:46am

T-shirts, idiots
sell them to each other for 10$ a piece

Wow, what a wonderful business model !!!
Mikey is a modern day Karl Marx
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hegemon13, 9 Apr 2009 @ 3:11pm

Re: Re: Re:
"...person of this stature..."

Sorry, but that makes no difference. I could see your argument with an authoritative figure (president, etc). But to say that he is "too good" for someone to talk back to because he wrote some successful music is really stupid.
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JEDIDIAH, 9 Apr 2009 @ 7:45pm

Re: Re: Re:
> Read the posts Big Keith, it's not a group of peoplewith a
> similar viewpoint, it's a pile on. Someone kicked him down,
> and everyone else realized it was okay to kick him.

He's the posterboy for what's wrong with the performing
arts today. The REAL Broadway is in a serious tailspin
because of the flailing economy and this dufus wants to
go on a rant about record sales and piracy.

What an idiot.

He earned whatever pile-on he gets.
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Scott, 10 Apr 2009 @ 7:33am

Please proofread before you post.
As someone else has pointed out in comments...

Who is Andrew Lloyd Weber?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Apr 2009 @ 12:22pm

A few years ago, I downloaded the soundtrack of Phantom. I liked the music, and the next time I was in New York, I saw the show. I probably wouldn't have done so if I hadn't been exposed to the soundtrack and grown to like the music. Without this so-called piracy, Phantom wouldn't have made the money from my ticket purchase.
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Kryss LaBryn, 11 Mar 2010 @ 12:00am

Twenty years ago I had my first exposure to ALW's music when someone handed me a ripped (on cassette in those pre-Internet days haha) copy of the OLC Phantom recording and told me they thought that I'd really enjoy it. Did I pay for it? No. Was it pirated? Yes. Did it diddle his sales out of probably $35? Yes.

Would I have run across his work anywhere else? You know, I suspect not; I lived in a very small town and was a 20 hour drive from the closest city that his shows visited (and these day, I'm in an even smaller town, and six hours away). I mean, it's not like his stuff gets a lot of airplay on the CBC.

But since I got that pirated cassette, I have been to see the show three times, seen "The Music of ALW", seen "Cats" twice (and yeah, I enjoyed it; sue me, I grew up on "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats"), and between the shows and the merchandising have spent at least a thousand dollars directly on ALW and his stuff.

So is piracy illegal? Yeah. But does it cost him money? Not necessarily, not necessarily at all.
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