1. Barnaby Walters

    @Tag All you say is true, and I can't see this approach working well for the majority of bands either, TBH. But note that neither myself nor SoH are advocating the ditching of properly recorded CDs (there'd be nothing to copy!) — I suspect that a significant proportion of their revenue comes from record sales. The point I'm making is more that, if people are giving you free promotion through gig videos and pirated copies, why try to stop them, provided it's not having a large impact on earnings?

    It's an interesting case study, regardless of feasibility for the rest of the industry. It would be interesting to see live/record earning breakdowns for some more prominent bands and artists.

  2. tag@ser.endipito.us

    That model works for live bands, but not everyone is a live band. While I believe some major changes need to happen in the music industry, I think it would be sad for it to go in this direction. Some music is best recorded in a studio. It's an environment where a performance is perfected and creativity abounds. A classic example is The Beatles. Their best music came from when they camped in a studio and quit touring. Under the new live model, that couldn't work.

    And that's just regarding the artists. There are people behind them who make the recordings possible. I'm studying to become an audio engineer. It's not a lucrative business as it is and if the live model were to become the norm, I can only assume I would have to find a new job. Free recordings, for the most part, would be done by amateurs. Only the biggest live acts could afford a high quality recording, and even then it would just be treated as an advertisement for their concert, not a work of art. My point is not that the recording business should exist for the sake of jobs (obsolete jobs should disappear), but that it is difficult to imagine a model of free recordings. More than just the bands make their living from recordings, too. In a free model, they disappear and recorded music will, in a word, suck.

    The music business needs to adapt, but I don't think abandoning the recording business and simply accepting piracy is the answer.

    That's my two cents.

  3. Tilman

    Hi Barnaby, I am sure you will do just fine. Driving is a very pleasant thing, although surfing the internet is even better. So if you like surfing the internet you will not be happy with driving. Sorry to say that. #krawallmietze is boring herself! I bet she think Edward Cullen is cooler than Charlie Swan, which all stupid people think!

  4. Brendan Bane

    @gaberlunzie That's a fair cop! I'm stuck on my perceived absence of absolute (and therefore ANY) truth. If nothing can be proven as true then everything is merely perception..well at least maybe? ugh therefore am I dreaming? If I am not dreaming then how could I possibly embrace any morality...as morality seem to be completely subjective...or something like that...my brain hurts.