retired_corzawoodja

So we could reach a state whereby the majority of artists do a Radiohead and release their albums for free to procure their fanbase, generating income almost solely through touring. Music being free, many of us listen to much more, get into so many more artists than we otherwise would and go and see a lot more gigs as a consequence.

Everyone wins - except for the record labels.

retired_traci29

and bands who are **** live. they're pretty ****ed in your world, beffers.

retired_khabmth

But have the total overall sale for the entire music industry really dropped??? I haven't seen any clear numbers on it and it would be interesting to know.



The interesting question is IMO how many of the songs people download would they have bought if piracy didn't exist??? I'm quite sure that most people download much more than they had ever thought of buying just because it is so easy to find all music.

And for some that will mean they find new artists/songs that they later buy (that they wouldn't have bought otherwise) and for some it will mean that they just download what they want (instead of going to the store). Which effect that is the greatest I don't know but I would have guessed it would be noticed at the bottom line tbh.



Yea that's my take on most of the piracy too.

retired_therob

Artists make more money from touring then CD sales averaging £30 - 40 a ticket. </BLOCKQUOTE>

No they don't, because the expenditure required to run a tour is way more than manufacturing a few thousand CDs.

I remember hearing once that most big tours barely break even, and are done as a way of raising publicity for record sales.

retired_eaglepdub

I have no idea what i'm paying Napster for then. </BLOCKQUOTE>

I thought Napster had low bit rate files with DRM and you needed to have an active subscription to play the music?