Some Bands Still Refuse Music Downloads

Zelbinian writes "Wired News reports there are a number of artists, ranging from The Beatles to Radiohead, that are still holding out on iTunes. Some feel that per-track downloads hurt the artistic integrity of albums as a whole; for others it's simply a matter of negotiation troubles. From the article: 'Since record companies have realized the popularity of iTunes and other sites, many reworked contracts to give artists less money per download. Andrews said while record companies once offered artists about 30 cents for each song sold, now musicians are earning less than a dime.'"

Ohh the irony

[iced_773]

The Beatles? On iTunes? What happened to Apple v. Apple?

Of Course!

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

'Since record companies have realized the popularity of iTunes and other sites, many reworked contracts to give artists less money per download. Andrews said while record companies once offered artists about 30 cents for each song sold, now musicians are earning less than a dime.'

Well, obviously when the record companies underestimated demand they also underestimated the rates of breakage and returns, so of course they would have to modify the artists' cut in order to better compensate the record companies for those costs.

You should get it

[XanC]

BTW Taco, I want a raise.

You deserve one; you post here all the time!

Re:I can see both sides of this

[The Amazing Fish Boy]

I can see how a band might prefer that an album be sold as a complete "work" and not picked apart.

This is gonna tear Radiohead up, but I just listened to Idioteque. But I had my CD player on random, so Morning Bell didn't come up next.

Re:So.. umm...

[darkitecture]

How much is a dime?

So I see you're asking a rhetorical question.

What type of smartass reply would you like to your rhetorical question?

* Semi-appropriate mainstream movie quote - "More than you can afford, pal!"
* Ignorant American - "ur so dum! we invented munny!"
* Witty American - "How much is a dime?! More like "How much is a liter? Am I rite?! rofl"
* Straight cut geek response - "10 Cents."
* Family Guy quote - "Swing and a miss, Peter."

Just fucking with you. With the answer being "The value of your average Slashdot post", the correct response we were looking for was "How much is a rat's ass?" We'll be back with more Jeopardy after the break.

Re:Ohh the irony

[Draconix]

Apple won.

Re:I can see both sides of this

[EvanED]

Heck, for that matter, why not 50 cents for half the song? You give it a range of times during the track. Prorate the price according to the fraction of the duration you want.

Re:So.. umm...

[Khyber]

How much is a dime?

Ten to fifty bucks, depending upon the quality of the grass, man. ;)

Re:Ohh the irony

[Anonymous Coward]

That is hilarious that 2 out of 3 of the mod points given to your post were for "informative".

100% behind you guys...

[Chaffar]

Some feel that per-track downloads hurt the artistic integrity of albums as a whole

Then they shouldn't complain when I download the .rar of their albums :)

Re:I can see both sides of this

[indifferent children]

You give it a range of times during the track.

After all, two seconds of Michael Bolton is just about enough.

Re:Missing the point

[Cederic]

On the other hand, I've listened to OK Computer many times, usually without random shuffle, and I've never picked up an underlying album-wide story and message.

On my portable music player I have 3-4 tracks from that album in my two most common playlists and love them as tracks; I almost never listen to the album itself.

Maybe there is a message and the album represents a coherent body of work. Frankly it's wasted on me.

Re:I can see both sides of this

[Badfysh]

They're already doing that. They call them "Ringtones".

Re:Missing the point

[the_xaqster]

Just like films. Do me a favor, go to your nearest Blockbuster and rent any random DVD that you have not seen. Now, instead of playing it all select the "choose chapter" option and watch the chapters in the following order: "5, 4, 7, 3, 1", you skipped chapter 2 and 6 (and if there are more than 7 chapters, all those also). Did the movie made any sense to you?.

I just tried this with Pulp Fiction, and I think it made more sense! Thank you!

Re:I can see both sides of this

[thatnerdguy]

and they charge $2.50 for those