[trash-talk] I may be a pest pointing this out... BUT

[wilson king]

I find it rather sad that anyone would decline to buy an album based on
the fact that they already have the (presumably 'illegal') mp3s.

mp3s are not CD quality audio. I don't care how many people "can't tell
the difference" between a high bitrate mp3 and the actual CD. I'll
listen to an mp3 just to hear a something, but to me it's kind of like
listening to something on the radio. If I like it enough I'm gonna go
and buy it. 

regarding the videos - well Garbage hasn't put much on the market in
terms of for sale video product. The VHS from the first album is pretty
much it, besides the few singles that included a video file. 

In this day and age I think record labels have got to come to terms
with the existing technology and infrastructure, rather than fight it.
Here in the US many individuals are being personally sued by large
record labels for downloading and/or distributing mp3s.  Seems kind of
silly to me. 

Anyway I'm not disagreeing with Shell here, or with Elfie, or anyone
else in particular. Just throwing some thoughts out for general
consumption. 

Personally I never considered mp3s more than a convenient and temporary
way to listen to music on a computer (or other portable device
nowadays). It certainly isn't anything I would consider keeping as a
permanent copy... (unless of course that was the ONLY format available
for a particular release). 

Same with video files. A convenient way to watch something on a
computer, but not a permament copy to keep forever. Even if I had every
Garbage video in DVD quality mpeg (which I don't, mostly just low res
files that aren't even that cool to watch), I would still buy the
official Garbage DVD if or when it was ever released.... 

Of course this is the type of "argument" that'll never really be
settled. Some people will stand fast that file sharing is hurting the
industry.  Others will argue that the "free promotion" generates more
sales. There are numerous studies that come to contradictory
conclusions. 

One of the flimsier arguments is that 1. file sharing has gone up in
the last year; 2. record sales have gone down in the last year;
therefore: file sharing is hurting the industry. Unless someone can
prove a causal relationship between the two events (which as far as I
know, no one has), that's a bogus argument. 

Anyway, yeah, touchy subject for sure. 
 
--- Shell Bryson <shell.bryson at dhnewmedia.com> wrote:
> Just because it's not released in your country is not an excuse. What
> if the
> band were to release a DVD collection? It might be deemed pointless
> by the
> label if everyone has already ripped off copies. While hardcore fans
> would
> buy a DVD for their collection, once a video gets onto a P2P network
> no
> casual fan is likely to spend the money. Even if ever hardcore fan
> bought a
> copy, a DVD would instantly be a costly exercise.
> 
> As sad as it might seem, it does hurt the band, indirectly. While
> files
> swapped on this list isn't a big issue, it's just a short step and
> they're
> out in the wild, being shared by everyone. That DOES hurt the band.
> If you
> get nothing extra at all by buying a DVD or single which you can't
> already
> get for free, casual fans won't bother. It's easier and cheaper to
> download.
> 
> I disagree with Elfie. I don't see how it cannot do the record
> industry harm
> (and in turn the band). It's really simple - and album costs millions
> to
> make. Every sale 'lost' hurts the band, reduces the chance of
> singles, cuts
> money off of video shoots and so on. 50% of people don't buy singles
> now.
> This is why it only takes 10,000 copies of a single to make #1 in the
> charts. That's because 50,000 people have already downloaded the
> track and
> there's no point in buying it. It does not PROMOTE the band at all -
> very
> few people end up going to Garbage gigs because of hearing an MP3 of
> the
> album (the gigs are too small - Garbage is not a stadium filling
> multi-million ticket selling band). People who download MP3s tend to
> download entire albums, so Garbage don't make any extra sales. You're
> not
> very likely to go buy a single if you've already downloaded the
> album. And
> so on...
> 
> S.
> 
>   

"The greatest price of refusing to participate in politics is being governed by your inferiors."

 - Plato, The Republic


		
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