SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the rising-tide-lifts-all-ships dept.
Music piracy is on the increase worldwide, with 40 percent of users are accessing unlicensed music, up from 35 percent last year, the global recorded music industry group IFPI said.
Internet search engines are making piracy easier, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said in a report on Tuesday, calling for government action.
The increase in piracy follows a slump in recent years when policing of the digital music landscape appeared to be clamping down on the practice.
"Copyright infringement is still growing and evolving, with stream ripping the dominant method," said IPPI chief, Frances Moore.
"With the wealth of licensed music available to fans, these types of illegal sites have no justifiable place in the music world," she said, calling for greater regulation of the digital music sector.
If they defeat stream ripping, there's always the analog hole...
[Ed Note - OTOH "The report also revealed the continuing rise in audio streaming. It found that 45 percent of respondents were now listening to music through a licensed audio streaming service—up from 37 percent in 2016." ]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @03:00AM (7 children)
musicians are almost all at or near the bottom of the food chain
...but they can do something that all the other folks can't.
If you are a musician and want to make money, PERFORM LIVE.
One day's work; one day's pay.
Same as with a carpenter or electrician or plumber.
If you consider recordings to be anything other than PROMOTIONS for your appearances, you're only fooling yourself.
As Fristy noted, technology has outstipped the business model of selling recordings.
Any 7 year old with a $20 computer can make perfect copies of an audio file.
...and businessmen suing/threatening to sue the consumers of their stuff is a really shitty business model.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 20 2017, @03:21AM (6 children)
I am a musician. I make a bit of money performing live. But it's definitely not much: A good gig pulls in about $100 plus a couple of free beers at the bar. And remember, that involves owning a bunch of equipment, training to use it, travel time, rehearsals with the band to master the songs, etc.
Better musicians than me get closer to $500 per performance. Still not a great living, and that involves being on tour constantly. The bigger-name bands also have more expenses, e.g. a pricier manager, roadies, hotels rather than crashing at somebody's house or in the van, etc.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Mykl on Wednesday September 20 2017, @06:15AM (2 children)
I don't know what genre of music you play or how popular you are, so I'll speak in generalities instead.
The percentage of musicians that should expect to make a living wage from their craft should probably be roughly proportional to the percentage of painters, tennis players, dancers, writers, comedians, magicians or actors that do. Anyone that gets into any of these professions for the money is there for the wrong reasons.
Thexalon - my guess is that you're not in it for the money, but that you genuinely enjoy playing? If so, good on you.
This in no way excuses the behaviour of the music labels, who are generally no better than parasites sucking the blood out of the host that they need to survive.
I agree with GP - musicians should really view recordings as marketing rather than a source of income. I believe that's true even for 'A grade' artists/groups.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 20 2017, @09:30PM (1 child)
Genre: My bread and butter is performing for contra dances (if you've never tried it, it's vaguely similar to square dances, but a lot less formal and more common north of the Mason-Dixon line). It's so not-profitable that my teacher, who was the recipient of national awards, had about 15 albums, and 17 published books of the music he composed, kept his day job as a teacher his entire life. I play others styles as well: singer-songwriter, Celtic rock, filk, and classical, but again not a ton of money in that.
As for popularity: I'd generally put my fan base at somewhere around 250-500, of which about 100-150 is local. Not terrible, especially considering the size of my venues so far, but certainly not filling Wembly anytime soon.
I'm not in it for the money, but if I got more pay for doing what I do it would enable me to:
- Buy better equipment than what I've got.
- Travel more to perform in places I haven't been to.
- Consider quitting my day job (software development) and do more performing and recording.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by nnet on Wednesday September 20 2017, @11:07PM
this is why you want a universal basic income, so you can pursue dreams.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @04:24PM (1 child)
At this point in history it is unreasonable to expect to make your money off recordings. Especially if you are only good enough to pull in a couple hundred a performance. You should realize what you are doing is out of passion, not profit.
As the saying goes, don't quit your day job.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @05:44PM
You're way off base.
Big names get a fair chunk of change.
I have seen very, very skilled people play their gigs for pittances - and then go back to their day jobs. Luckiest guy I know in context is a professor of music. Chops? Has them for days. Plays music that leaves other professionals amazed. Picked up a few hundred and got back in his car.
Katy Perry, on the other hand ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:10PM
yes, that's because the music market is severely restricted/almost bled dry from the years of vampires drinking it's blood. when people talk about "musicians can play live and make money" they are saying over time, with a reversal of the whole system. you would have more independent venues, more demand for live shows, etc. healthy competition of minstrels/groups in every town around the world. not this "go to the ticketmaster facility in big cities and everyone gets ripped off" bullshit we have now. why should musicians pack all their own gear? that's fucking stupid. the venues should be providing that shit. musicians should be packing their instruments and maybe their stomp boxes, if they choose to. chords and amps and shit could stay locked up at the venues. you could check out what you need like a library. this would be apart of the healthy competition between venues.