Major Record Labels Could Owe $6 Billion For Pirating Music

[imaginaryday]

ahhhh, the irony....

read about it and give us your spin. Michael Geist - Canadian Recording Industry Faces $6 Billion Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

[vincentvangogo]

If all the major labels went bust as a result, I think it would be about the best thing that could happen to the industry.

[vincentvangogo]

I reckon their bullsh*t accounting on packaging deductions is another lawsuit waiting to happen.

[mobius.media]

Pretty funny to be honest. I'm sure they'll weasel out of it.

[Hardtoe]

Well lets hope unbridled greed and sucking artists dry has some consequences after all...

This is just another example of why people feel justified downloading music illegally - if the major corperations with lots of cash cant be bothered to pay, that becomes the example / justification for everyone else.

Let the leeches die (or at least lose a vacation home!)

[trevoire520]

The irony here is just delicious, I love it.

I would love for this to cause the major labels to go bust, it would result in a major reformation of the industry.

However I'm sure they have a pretty gigantic money pot to rely on.

[musical5]

Last I checked those who download music dont go and realease the material for sale. This is far worst than the common music downloader.

[jrt12]

while this is the sweetest piece of irony of i've heard of in years, the cynic in me says the record companies will still find a way to get out of it. but instead of the companies paying the artists all the money back, i'd love to see artists take a piece of the company, like shareholders... take back control of an industry and force change thats long overdue.

[swafford]

Originally Posted by Hardtoe

This is just another example of why people feel justified downloading music illegally - if the major corperations with lots of cash cant be bothered to pay, that becomes the example / justification for everyone else.

Of course. Because if the labels are ripping of artists, the fans might as well also. Is that the kind of logic the kids are using these days, because that's pretty stupid.

On the other hand (or maybe it's the same hand), there's a local artist with international exposure on a small local label whose made 3 CD's and sold about 8000 units. They've moved 75,000 via illegal downloads.

Hooray for the kids, they got it going on. Boo to those awful corporations. Let's all bend over and fvck each other in the a$$. Fist bump!

[quantumpsych]

Originally Posted by vincentvangogo

If all the major labels went bust as a result, I think it would be about the best thing that could happen to the industry.

the result would be something of a renaissance for music in that the indie labels would form the entirety of the recording industry. though, consolidation would eventually become rampant and we'd be in the same boat we are now.

if the music business became a cottage industry and moved away from the massive corporate entity it is today, the resulting business model would be positive for everyone involved as far as i can tell.

i still think releasing vinyl with a plain replicated cd in the jacket is the most tangible, collectible and piracy deterring form of release.

[FeatheredSerpent]

Hang the ****ers out to dry

[Hardtoe]

Originally Posted by swafford

Of course. Because if the labels are ripping of artists, the fans might as well also. Is that the kind of logic the kids are using these days, because that's pretty stupid.

On the other hand (or maybe it's the same hand), there's a local artist with international exposure on a small local label whose made 3 CD's and sold about 8000 units. They've moved 75,000 via illegal downloads.

Hooray for the kids, they got it going on. Boo to those awful corporations. Let's all bend over and fvck each other in the a$$. Fist bump!

I think most people see it as ripping off the company not the artists (seeing as how the artists aren't always getting paid anyway). I am not saying that is correct or justified, just that people have been fvcked over by corperations for so long that a lot have lost faith in any large conglomerate and will act however they like to get back at the "man".

(It is hard to deny that all of America has been royally screwed up the a$$ by the banking system, the former president and many self-serving crooked business people)

On the positive side, many people seem to also be making the effort to buy music off of the (often indie) bands that really move them - I think that the return of music to smaller companies would restore peoples faith that they were supporting artists and not the ultra rich when they purchase music - who want to give more money to rich people???

[scud133]

why isn't there some kind of artists' union that tries to broker better deals with the majors?

something that would give artists better bargaining power against the big guys

[quantumpsych]

Originally Posted by Hardtoe

I think most people see it as ripping off the company not the artists (seeing as how the artists aren't always getting paid anyway). I am not saying that is correct or justified, just that people have been fvcked over by corperations for so long that a lot have lost faith in any large conglomerate and will act however they like to get back at the "man".

yup. they're just too bloated to give their stables of talent more than a single digit percentage of sales. this needs to change, but at least COMPETENT musicians can scrape a living on ticket sales and merch alone.

[Sigma]

Didn't anyone ever wonder that years ago in manhattan people would be selling bootleg cassettes and cd's on the street almost across the street from major label offices?

i always found that rather odd

great way not to pay artist royalties..among other things

[Subversounds]

For centuries musicians earned their money playing, not selling records. I think this is the way again.

From my perspective, the piracy issue is much more a scream of a dying industry than any other thing.

- never before so many music shows around town (Rio de Janeiro).

- never before we see so many good artists making music (i'm 27).

- never before was so cheap and easy to make the world listen to your songs. And well, to record them as well.

Artists should keep playing and charging for it.

Producers should keep producing and charging for it.

Engineers should keep recording and charging for it.

Distribuition should keep distributing music and charging for it.

Copyrights from a work already made (playing, producing, engineering, distribuiting) is like Ford charging a % over a cab ride or a bus ticket. Just silly. The music industry was created with bad habits, policies that no other industry have.

Everyone seems ok if the cover designer earns no % when his art is in a million copy album. His task is really important to the business as well. But no one seems to care.