[geeks] Fwd: from Silicon news

[Chris Byrne]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: geeks-admin at sunhelp.org [mailto:geeks-admin at sunhelp.org]On Behalf
> Of Peter L. Wargo
>
> I'm this close to telling the recording indusry to fuck off, and just
> downloading music from the artists.  Perhaps if they priced their product
> in a realistic manner, and gave a reasonable portion to the artists, they
> wouldn't have to worry as much.
>
> -Pete


Here Here.

Lesse if you are a new artist with a strong fan base but not much radio play
and no MTV yet your CD will most likely cost around $15

Of that $15 the record store gets around $3.00 maybe as much as $5.00 or as
little as $2, leaving $12

The distribution company (the big five) gets half of that leaving $6

The label takes half of that leaving $3

The publisher takes $1

Laywers, managers, assorted fees etc... take $1 leaving you with $1

Maybe up to $3 if you're lucky

Say you're a 5 person band and you write your own music equally. That leaves
each of you with between 20 and 60 cents per CD.

Then theres recoupement. Thats where the record label and distribution
company charge you for the cost of recording, producing, and market your
record and your band. Even though they take 2/3 of the profit already, they
charge you for the privelige of making them rich.

Often bands end up actually OWING their record company for recoupement.

And god help you if you didnt write your own songs.

Ok so lesse a gold record is 100,000 copies right, and your band gets at
most $3 per copy. $300,000.00 split five ways. For a gold record. Minus
recoupement wich for a hard pushed gold record will typically be... you
guessed it between $100k and 500k.

The only way a smaller artist can actually make a buck these days is by
having their own label, publisher, and production company. At least then you
can keep most of that $6.00 per cd. If you get to be a major star you may
even keep up to $10 per cd.

Oh and of course you can tour but if they didnt write their own songs you
get shafted there too.

Chris Byrne