ReAction
03-10-2003, 05:19 PM
I'm tired of hearing about the stupid record companies trying to shut down file sharing on the internet. I'd never heard about the RIAA until they 'arrested' some old man for downloading a song over the internet. Oh no! This crime is so much worse than say, the crime of killing innocent children, or blowing up a night club. I can certainly see why it's media-worthy.
Anyway. Record companies probably would never have had such problems with file sharing if they had not ripped off their customers to begin with. I quote the following statistics from Maddox the Pirates' kickass site (http://maddox.xmission.com/musicindustry.html)
How much does the average CD cost? I figure $14. For $14, you get a case, a paper jacket depicting the artist, and a CD. Which of these two mediums are most likely to be more difficult to manufacture? How much does it cost for the plastic and coating of a CD? I've found that the plastic in a CD costs less than 3 cents to press. So how the hell is the extra $6 justified??? The CD jacket? Couldn't be, most CDs I have only have a single piece of paper on the inside and the back. The case couldn't be what's costing us all the money, since the plastic in a CD case costs little more than the plastic in a CD. Take a look at these figures:
For 500 C40-49:59 "Ready for Retail" Cassette Tapes with J-card + 4 panels costs: $983.00
For 500 "Ready for Retail" Compact Discs with 4 panels and tray card costs: $1725.00
What justifies the difference in almost $800 in price? The truth is that the music industry is greedy. They can charge us anything they want for music because they have enough money to buy the rights to an artist. The price of CDs should have been drastically reduced by now, to at least the cost of a tape if not less, but it hasn't.
You can read more by clicking the link above.
I did some reading and to my long-exisiting suspicions he is correct. CD production is just as cheap if not cheaper than tape production, so why is it so much more expensive to purchase? Because the record companies realise they're in demand and put a higher price for profit.
I'm not saying this is wrong, but when they do this, they have to expect people to start finding cheaper alternatives such as internet file sharing. Most people can't afford the $35 ripoff CD's now and don't want them anyway, because it's now simpler to simply send a couple of bucks to an mp3 site to download the song, or even better, use one of the programs that has been forbidden from mention here to download for free!
People say if you're downloading music, you're really ripping off the artists. Which is untrue, we're actually justifying the record companies that rip US off by charging us way too much to begin with. The record companies pay the band long before they ever see revenue from their CD sales, so in boycotting CD purchase, you're really sending the message to the record companies: LOWER THE PRICE.
All they have to do is lower the price of their cd's to a rational level! Then maybe the public won't be so pissed off. Instead of arresting people for not buying an outrageously overpriced CD, why not simply lower the price, and THEN arrest the satanic music downloaders from hell. They won't have an argument to lean on then will they?
Thankfully these laws of file sharing haven't passed here in Australia (yet) and we can simply watch the carnage that America is stewing itself into by making such a fuss over something that is their own fault anyway. Unfortunately I see signs of this storm heading our way. Better cover up.
Anyway. Record companies probably would never have had such problems with file sharing if they had not ripped off their customers to begin with. I quote the following statistics from Maddox the Pirates' kickass site (http://maddox.xmission.com/musicindustry.html)
How much does the average CD cost? I figure $14. For $14, you get a case, a paper jacket depicting the artist, and a CD. Which of these two mediums are most likely to be more difficult to manufacture? How much does it cost for the plastic and coating of a CD? I've found that the plastic in a CD costs less than 3 cents to press. So how the hell is the extra $6 justified??? The CD jacket? Couldn't be, most CDs I have only have a single piece of paper on the inside and the back. The case couldn't be what's costing us all the money, since the plastic in a CD case costs little more than the plastic in a CD. Take a look at these figures:
For 500 C40-49:59 "Ready for Retail" Cassette Tapes with J-card + 4 panels costs: $983.00
For 500 "Ready for Retail" Compact Discs with 4 panels and tray card costs: $1725.00
What justifies the difference in almost $800 in price? The truth is that the music industry is greedy. They can charge us anything they want for music because they have enough money to buy the rights to an artist. The price of CDs should have been drastically reduced by now, to at least the cost of a tape if not less, but it hasn't.
You can read more by clicking the link above.
I did some reading and to my long-exisiting suspicions he is correct. CD production is just as cheap if not cheaper than tape production, so why is it so much more expensive to purchase? Because the record companies realise they're in demand and put a higher price for profit.
I'm not saying this is wrong, but when they do this, they have to expect people to start finding cheaper alternatives such as internet file sharing. Most people can't afford the $35 ripoff CD's now and don't want them anyway, because it's now simpler to simply send a couple of bucks to an mp3 site to download the song, or even better, use one of the programs that has been forbidden from mention here to download for free!
People say if you're downloading music, you're really ripping off the artists. Which is untrue, we're actually justifying the record companies that rip US off by charging us way too much to begin with. The record companies pay the band long before they ever see revenue from their CD sales, so in boycotting CD purchase, you're really sending the message to the record companies: LOWER THE PRICE.
All they have to do is lower the price of their cd's to a rational level! Then maybe the public won't be so pissed off. Instead of arresting people for not buying an outrageously overpriced CD, why not simply lower the price, and THEN arrest the satanic music downloaders from hell. They won't have an argument to lean on then will they?
Thankfully these laws of file sharing haven't passed here in Australia (yet) and we can simply watch the carnage that America is stewing itself into by making such a fuss over something that is their own fault anyway. Unfortunately I see signs of this storm heading our way. Better cover up.