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* Ray West <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on Sun, 26 Dec 1999
| The fundamental cause of this problem, if it is a problem, is seated much
| deeper than this. The 'popular' performers are generally speaking paid far,
| far more than they are worth, when compared with other areas of human
| endeavour.
As a rule, performers are paid *SHIT*.
A standard record contract goes something like this: artist gets between $1
and $2 per sale (call it $1.50), the label gets between $4 and $5 (call it
$4.50). So why does a CD cost $15? Because the distributor hits the
retailer with a markup, and the retailer hits you with a markup.
Anyway, That $4.50 goes to cover things like:
* Salaries for the company employees who manufacture the media, print the
inserts, etc.
* Purchase and maintenance of equipment used to manufacture media, inserts,
etc.
* Advertising for the album and other promotions.
The last is where the artists really get screwed over by music pirates. If
the album does not sell well enough to cover the cost of promoting it, the
balance comes out of the artist's cut. For example, a record company
spends $1,000,000 to promote an album. The album sells 500,000 copies.
The artist's cut is $750,000. Not only has the artist earned *NOTHING*,
but he *OWES* the label $250,000 out of his pocket to cover the advertising
loss.
If you really believe that stealing music only hurts the record companies,
you are so sadly deluded it is not funny.
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