Seriously...
If somebody has bought one of my records and they are done listening to
it, or even if they just stuck it on their iPod and want to ditch the
physical copy, I'd much rather have them sell it to somebody else than
have it languish in their stacks for years with nobody listening to it.
If I make $3 off Jeff buying my record I'm happy. If Jeff then sells it
on E-Bay to somebody else, and the bidder likes the record enough to buy
a copy of my *next* record, that's another $3 for me. Hopefully Jeff
buys a copy of that one too. Maybe both of these guys sell their copies
on E-Bay and the system expands geometrically. Why do I care if they
are making a buck off it? It's better than just having the record
disappear, and the larger the audience for my music gets, the happier I
am. Besides, distributors take more profit than E-bay auctioneers, and a
lot of the time they're gonna rip off the label way worse than somebody
sharing mp3s or auctioning original media.
I don't know where the crossover point is where an artist gets popular
enough that the increase in exposure gained by multiple owners of a
single unit manages to be counteracted by the loss of revenue. My guess
is it's probably around the saturation level reached by shitty bands
with one Big Hit on the radio, who everybody's heard of but nobody
really likes, so they'd rather get a discount used copy of the one album
with the hit (or download it from Limewire) and never shell out for
another record. But I think if an artist isn't putting out work with
enough quality to warrant casual listeners converting into paying
customers, then they aren't earning their keep. Why blame the customer
for refusing to subsidize a band who doesn't deserve to be paid?
That said: go buy my record. (String Theory - Radiovalerian LP/CD on
Wobblyhead Records!!!)
Maybe Jeff has a copy up for auction on EBay... but my guess is he
probably liked it enough to hang on to it ;)
Josh
PS: I saw a copy of our SMAK 12" go for like $50 on EBay once. I was
thrilled.
theREALmxyzptlk wrote:
quoted 52 lines turnstyle wrote:
> turnstyle wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> not really knowing . but I see a lot of auction posts coming
>> up on the list ..
>>
>> ... just wondering if the trade of CD's is not making more
>> money for owners of music than the original artists?
>
>
> I have no idea what the original artists make, nor what "most sellers"
> make, but since it's my post, I'll reply.
> I lose money - I almost never make it. If I do make money on a sale,
> it's *far* outweighed by what I lose on other sales, paypal costs,
> eBay fees, packaging costs, sometimes eating part of shipping costs,
> freebies tossed in, etc. I do it because I will lose less if I do it
> and if I didn't do it, there's no way I could afford to dump the silly
> amount I dump into "the industry" on a weekly basis. As I am and
> end-user, I don't get deals or discounts. I pay full price and sell
> for 6.99 start bids.
> If you don't believe it, follow the URLs and see for yourself. It is
> the very rare disc which nets what I pay - and when you factor in the
> costs associated with selling, it gets rarer. So to answer your
> question, I really doubt it.
>
>>
>> in a model where 'free' P2P trading is changing the artists cycle
>> and eating the theoretical sale of music
>
>
> How is selling a used item merit a comparison with P2P trading? Looks
> like an apples to oranges analogy imo.
> In terms of legalities, there is no comparison. If I felt I was
> stealing money from the artists (I would argue the contrary), I
> wouldn't do it.
> You'd be surprised how many of the artists buy from me, I from them
> and even sometimes send me things with the intent of having me make
> copies to tuck in as freebies so they can get their stuff heard.
> Not trying to be defensive, just replying. And forgive me if I'm
> covering ground already tread; this is the first post I see in my
> inbox having just gotten home from work.
>
>
> jeff
>
>
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