DBlumel wrote:
Actually, its more like; you are a brilliant inventor and you just invented the
hammer, nothing else like it exists. You have a patent on it and you would like
to make a living from this new invention. You don't have the financial
resources to market or manufacture large quantities of hammers so you sell your
patent or provide a license to a large corporation who will pay you a royalty
for every hammer they sell on your and now also their behalf.

Would it be so simple. The music industry screws the artists as much as
they screw their customers. They are not in the business of exposing you
to as much new and interesting music as possible, or helping as many new
bands as possible get a chance to make it. They are in the business of
predictably selling their product. They only sell songs we know from
bands we like, or new songs from bands we like, or new bands that sound
like bands we like. It is all about control and predictability.

Do you travel around the country? Ever notice how you can hear a Doobie
Brothers song you haven't heard in a while (hey, they played china
Grove...cool) and them fly to CA and here the same song on the Classic
Rock station there, ditto in Denver. How'd that happen?

Playlists. Control. Money. They control what you hear with the radio
stations, see their videos, so you will buy predictably what they want.

I used Napster when it came out. I could give you a list 4 pages long of
bands I'd never heard of before, much less heard their music, that are
now on my A-list to listen to. It was awesome. All of the sudden, I had
access to any and all music out there. The barrier was down. Seeya,
record company.

Yep, it was stealing. I wonder of the members of Six Mile Bridge, a
celtic band I got turned onto through Napster, cared. What I want to
happen, is bands create web sites and sell their music directly to me,
with no music industry middle man. They are not needed. We need the
music industry giants like the Model T needed stables with fresh hay. I
can deal directly with the artist now, thank you very much.

Necessary reading if you have kids, and want to understand what the
music business is all about.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/

And here's one from Courtney Love, of all people. Based on her tone,
she'd make a fine RAH participant. Testimony to congress.
http://dir.salon.com/tech/feature/20...ove/index.html