Well, they don't, really. They get the copyright in the script and the songs and the overall presentation. They just like to THINK they get the copyright over everything.
Which reminds me, I do believe that, under Australian law, the Disney movies "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs", "Pinocchio" and "Fantasia" are now in the public domain in Australia, and "Dumbo" will be at the end of the year. I believe (though I'm not certain) that this is also the case for most of Europe and Canada.
I shop at record stores that still exist, though I have become far more selective on the CD's based on their mastering. Something I should not have to do but since I have, I have not been stung once. But now eBay is my first choice in music stores for old CD's, I seldom buy new CD's as a result of this sloppy mastering. Now how am I supposed to listen to the small amount of music that I do enjoy from the last 15-odd years? Tell me that please!
No but if you want to legally obtain said product, such as a CD of an album which is controlled by a major label, you are forced to buy their product or go without.
"How have the major labels 'screwed you over'?
You personally; examples please."
Examples of how I have been screwed over by the labels:
I purchased a copy of Lily Allen's album "Alright Still" (on EMI) which I cannot listen due as every beat on that album is distorted due to excessively loud mastering. I cannot take it back as the CD itself is not faulty.
I purchased a copy of John Farnahm's album "Whispering Jack" 20th Anniversary remaster (Sony). It was mastered so loudly with excessive compression. I cannot listen to it. I cannot return it as the CD itself is not faulty.
I purchased a copy of Wes Carr's album "The Way The World Looks" (Sony). See "Whispering Jack". I purchased Michael Jackson's "Bad" remaster (Sony). See "Whispering Jack". I purchased Abba's "Arrival" remaster (Universal). See "Whispering Jack".
I purchased a new LP copy of "Please Please Me" by The Beatles (EMI). It had a groove lock on the second song upon first playing. The record was faulty. However, I could not return it as the labels apparently don't accept returns on records.
My roommate, a huge fan of Delta Goodrem, purchased her latest album in 2007 only to find that if he downloaded the album (not song by song but the whole album) he would have gotten an extra song at iTunes and a different extra song at BigPond Music. He spent $25 only to find that he didn't even get the same number of songs as those who paid less to get a crappy download.
I purchased a region 1 DVD of "The Golden Girls" season 4. I could not make a backup copy due to the copy protection employed on it. That was OK at first but two months later the second DVD in the set stopped working. Inspecting it for scratches, I fond none.
I purchased a region 4 DVD of "The Golden Girls" season 5, made by a different company to season 4 thus hoping to avoid the above scenario. My player refused to play it full stop. All three discs, no go. Returning it to the shop, they would not take it because their DVD player played it with no problem. Every other DVD I owned still worked on my player. Just not "The Golden Girls" season 5. Research revealed they had "enhanced" the copy protection.
So now if I want an older album on CD, I track down a second hand copy on eBay that was mastered prior to 1995. If I want a DVD, I rent it out first. If I want a new album on CD, I borrow it from my local library first. I'm glad I did as one album I borrowed out had sound quality so badly compressed and distorted, even my roommate was going "OH MY GOD! TURN THIS OFF! MY EARS ARE KILLING ME!" and this was an artist he LIKED!
Now here's a positive thought: As more and more musicians ditch the RIAA member labels in favour of being independent, they will go broke and not be able to afford to bribe anybody anymore. I just hope that day comes soon.
Normally I refrain from swearing as much as I can but in this case I want to say what I really think. So I'll understand if this post gets deleted for excessive use of profanity.
MY THOUGHTS ON THE RIAA: FUCK THE FUCKING FUCKERS!
No, wait, I take that back! Nobody should be forced to actually FUCK them! That's just gross!
Nah, you'd go broke from having to buy so many bullets if you shot them, though builders would be employed for years with the number of institutions that would need t obe built if they were institutionalized, so there's a positive thing right there
Here in Australia I got.... the clip! Holy sh*t! The ABC and Foxtel didn't get it blocked? Granted, the ad before it (featuring an English accent) was TEN TIMES* louder than the clip itself (I know ads are always louder but this was an extreme case) but I still got the clip! :)
*To hear the ad, I dropped the volume to 1 but to hear the clip I had to raise it back up to full. Yes, I could have dropped the volume to zero for the ad but I didn't wanna miss any of the clip
You are indeed on the right track. Promoting yourself is one of the harder aspects from what I've seen. I am not a musician but a consumer and yes there is a lot of good new music out there but I'm never sure how to find it (I hate most of the current "Top 40" stuff)
YouTube, FaceBook and Twitter are useful tools. As Mike says, though, these are only a part of it. For example, Mike recently posted about the band Hollerado and linked to one of their videos. I thoroughly enjoyed the video but found myself bouncing (slightly) in my chair to the song as well. I shared that video on FaceBook and while a few of my online friends also liked it, I think I'm the only one who has gone so far as to find out more about them.
So while simply posting a video is a start, it is not the way by itself. I noticed Hollerado because Mike mentioned them on this blog. I would have probably never heard of them otherwise. Word of mouth promotion, even via social networks, is a tricky beast. Information - like music - is plentiful, attention is scarce. So while music is your passion, your job is to get people's attention. Grab the right person's attention and before you know it, you'll be where you want to be :)
How about a link to your band's site please? :)
As for a reasonable price per song, it depends on the song. I'd be more than happy to swing a dollar (or even two) over to Hollerado, for example, for their "Hey Philadelphia!" song. But a song that was a major label hit 10-to-50 years ago, I would only want to pay in the area of 10c to 20c, again depending on various factors. If, for example, David Bowie offered me a download of his "Ziggy Stardust" album for $10 but I knew most (if not all) of it was going to him and the band and crew he recorded it with, I'd jump at it. If, on the other hand, EMI was getting most of it, then I couldn't care less.
Let's follow their logic for a moment:
Blank cassettes - Record music to them - tax
Blank CD's - Record music to them - tax
Blank SD cards - Record music to them - tax
Therefore:
Blank hard disk drive - Record music to it - tax
Roll of foil - Record music to it - tax
Candle wax - Record music to it - tax
Blank paper - Write/print music on it - tax
I don't care anymore. In Australia we have iTunes with songs being $1.69 or $2.29 (our dollar is worth $1.10 US so how's that fair?) and they still don't offer us MP3's. I don't have an iPod and I don't want to convert my lossy files to a lossy format. The other main store here is BigPond Music from Telstra. They sell MP3's but they have a fraction of the range of iTunes. Until we can genuinely buy the SONGS we want at a REASONABLE price, file sharing will NOT go away.
On the post: Waiting 100+ Years For Version 2.0
Re: Re: Re: Bigger question
On the post: Waiting 100+ Years For Version 2.0
Re:
On the post: Waiting 100+ Years For Version 2.0
Re: Bigger question
Which reminds me, I do believe that, under Australian law, the Disney movies "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs", "Pinocchio" and "Fantasia" are now in the public domain in Australia, and "Dumbo" will be at the end of the year. I believe (though I'm not certain) that this is also the case for most of Europe and Canada.
On the post: John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The Fundamentals Wrong
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: John Perry Barlow Tells Copyright Maximalists That They've Got The Fundamentals Wrong
Re: Re: Re: Re:
No but if you want to legally obtain said product, such as a CD of an album which is controlled by a major label, you are forced to buy their product or go without.
"How have the major labels 'screwed you over'?
You personally; examples please."
Examples of how I have been screwed over by the labels:
I purchased a copy of Lily Allen's album "Alright Still" (on EMI) which I cannot listen due as every beat on that album is distorted due to excessively loud mastering. I cannot take it back as the CD itself is not faulty.
I purchased a copy of John Farnahm's album "Whispering Jack" 20th Anniversary remaster (Sony). It was mastered so loudly with excessive compression. I cannot listen to it. I cannot return it as the CD itself is not faulty.
I purchased a copy of Wes Carr's album "The Way The World Looks" (Sony). See "Whispering Jack". I purchased Michael Jackson's "Bad" remaster (Sony). See "Whispering Jack". I purchased Abba's "Arrival" remaster (Universal). See "Whispering Jack".
I purchased a new LP copy of "Please Please Me" by The Beatles (EMI). It had a groove lock on the second song upon first playing. The record was faulty. However, I could not return it as the labels apparently don't accept returns on records.
My roommate, a huge fan of Delta Goodrem, purchased her latest album in 2007 only to find that if he downloaded the album (not song by song but the whole album) he would have gotten an extra song at iTunes and a different extra song at BigPond Music. He spent $25 only to find that he didn't even get the same number of songs as those who paid less to get a crappy download.
I purchased a region 1 DVD of "The Golden Girls" season 4. I could not make a backup copy due to the copy protection employed on it. That was OK at first but two months later the second DVD in the set stopped working. Inspecting it for scratches, I fond none.
I purchased a region 4 DVD of "The Golden Girls" season 5, made by a different company to season 4 thus hoping to avoid the above scenario. My player refused to play it full stop. All three discs, no go. Returning it to the shop, they would not take it because their DVD player played it with no problem. Every other DVD I owned still worked on my player. Just not "The Golden Girls" season 5. Research revealed they had "enhanced" the copy protection.
So now if I want an older album on CD, I track down a second hand copy on eBay that was mastered prior to 1995. If I want a DVD, I rent it out first. If I want a new album on CD, I borrow it from my local library first. I'm glad I did as one album I borrowed out had sound quality so badly compressed and distorted, even my roommate was going "OH MY GOD! TURN THIS OFF! MY EARS ARE KILLING ME!" and this was an artist he LIKED!
On the post: Access Copyright Claims Trademark On The Copyright Symbol
Further Inspection
On the post: Access Copyright Claims Trademark On The Copyright Symbol
Stake My Claim
On the post: RIAA Calls 4th Amendment Passe: Pushes For Warrantless Searches
Re: RIAA
On the post: RIAA Calls 4th Amendment Passe: Pushes For Warrantless Searches
Re: Search the RIAA
On the post: RIAA Calls 4th Amendment Passe: Pushes For Warrantless Searches
Fuck 'em
MY THOUGHTS ON THE RIAA: FUCK THE FUCKING FUCKERS!
No, wait, I take that back! Nobody should be forced to actually FUCK them! That's just gross!
On the post: RIAA Calls 4th Amendment Passe: Pushes For Warrantless Searches
Re:
On the post: Daily Show Highlights Seal Team 6 Trademark & FCC Commish Joining Comcast
Re:
On the post: Daily Show Highlights Seal Team 6 Trademark & FCC Commish Joining Comcast
Re: Re: Re: Ironic
*To hear the ad, I dropped the volume to 1 but to hear the clip I had to raise it back up to full. Yes, I could have dropped the volume to zero for the ad but I didn't wanna miss any of the clip
On the post: Did LimeWire Shutdown Increase Music Sales? Part II
Re: Re:
YouTube, FaceBook and Twitter are useful tools. As Mike says, though, these are only a part of it. For example, Mike recently posted about the band Hollerado and linked to one of their videos. I thoroughly enjoyed the video but found myself bouncing (slightly) in my chair to the song as well. I shared that video on FaceBook and while a few of my online friends also liked it, I think I'm the only one who has gone so far as to find out more about them.
So while simply posting a video is a start, it is not the way by itself. I noticed Hollerado because Mike mentioned them on this blog. I would have probably never heard of them otherwise. Word of mouth promotion, even via social networks, is a tricky beast. Information - like music - is plentiful, attention is scarce. So while music is your passion, your job is to get people's attention. Grab the right person's attention and before you know it, you'll be where you want to be :)
How about a link to your band's site please? :)
As for a reasonable price per song, it depends on the song. I'd be more than happy to swing a dollar (or even two) over to Hollerado, for example, for their "Hey Philadelphia!" song. But a song that was a major label hit 10-to-50 years ago, I would only want to pay in the area of 10c to 20c, again depending on various factors. If, for example, David Bowie offered me a download of his "Ziggy Stardust" album for $10 but I knew most (if not all) of it was going to him and the band and crew he recorded it with, I'd jump at it. If, on the other hand, EMI was getting most of it, then I couldn't care less.
On the post: The Stupidity Of 'You Must Be A Criminal' Copyright Taxes: The SD Card Edition
Blank cassettes - Record music to them - tax
Blank CD's - Record music to them - tax
Blank SD cards - Record music to them - tax
Therefore:
Blank hard disk drive - Record music to it - tax
Roll of foil - Record music to it - tax
Candle wax - Record music to it - tax
Blank paper - Write/print music on it - tax
On the post: Did LimeWire Shutdown Increase Music Sales? Part II
On the post: Belgian Appeals Court Says Google Must Pay Up For Linking To Newspaper Websites
newsPAPER
On the post: Peter Friedman's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week
Re: Re: Re: The Right To Copy? (Smart Arse Version)
(not to mention I copied this joke in the first place!)
On the post: Peter Friedman's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week
Re: Re: The Right To Copy? (Smart Arse Version)
On the post: Peter Friedman's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week
Re: The Right To Copy? (Smart Arse Version)
Here http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Guess you just weren't looking hard enough
Next >>