CD Prices - what the fuck, honestly...
- Thread starter Metaltastic
- Start date
-Gavin-
Gavornator
I know that in alestorm... Even making £1500+ per show (festivals) and selling over 13k albums in half a year...
We still made major losses that came from MY bank account... And this was just on transport/food/phonebills etc...
And every headline show we did, we sold out... every festival we destroyed capacity figures...
Going indie is the only way to make any form of money... but even then, it's gonna just be the guy doing the business that benifits the most...
Music is a harsh business and to be honest egan, i agree... even if you a lot of sell records you make fuck all.
We still made major losses that came from MY bank account... And this was just on transport/food/phonebills etc...
And every headline show we did, we sold out... every festival we destroyed capacity figures...
Going indie is the only way to make any form of money... but even then, it's gonna just be the guy doing the business that benifits the most...
Music is a harsh business and to be honest egan, i agree... even if you a lot of sell records you make fuck all.
egan.
daylightdies.com
Thanks Gavin. I feel many people have a completely distorted understandings of how much bands make.
Knowing that my band was spending out of pocket is one thing but the hard reality came for me when guys in legendary bands were telling me about having to ask off work to go on tour.
The profit margins are thin regardless of how much money it seems is floating around.
Anyway, it's nice to have my experiences echoed.
hoehlentroll
Member
I really wouldn't call it stealing. If you steal sth. the victims really misses it. If you download a CD you wouldn't buy anyway, noone gets harmed. I think we agree, that you should buy every record you like so much that you're going to listen to it more than once in a while. This is what I'm doing. I'm buying reords I like very much. maybe like 5-10 a year. it really depends.
we covered about 80% of the money the cd-production in less than one year, selling shirts and cds at gigs and on homepage for 10 each. which is a very reasonable price. I think that's the key for selling enough stuff. I always see jealous headliners selling almost nothing of their 20 shirt and 15 cd stuff.
Jesus dude - do you think you guys just got a shitty deal, or had unusually large debts built up to recoup, or some other extenuating circumstances, or is it like that for any signed band?
hoehlentroll
Member
as a matter of fact I bought both your cd as well as the new in flames. just to let you know
steve.h
New Guy
The difficult part is that, if you download a CD that you weren't going to buy anyway, and end up really enjoying it, there isn't anything but your morality holding you back from not buying the CD. Personally, I feel what needs to happen is that bands need to create more reasons for potential fans to purchase their CD.
Eh, they have to charge that much to make up for the extremely high overhead of taking an entire crew with you on one or more rented busses on tour.
egan.
daylightdies.com
Good for you. Seriously. You have a fantastic plan as long as everyone is resigned to being a regional band. Perhaps that is the future. I'll also point out that you probably aren't paying the venue a merch percentage (10-30% in the US) like national bands are.
For the record we sell our Cd's for $13 shipped within the US which is actually less than 10€. To Europe we have to charge more b/c of shipping but it still works our to under 12€.
edit: thank you for buying the disk.....it seems like your actions are more positive than some of your comments made me think.
hoehlentroll
Member
@steve
I know, it's my own undeground point of view. doing gigs is what we're doing for fun out of our pockets. although we had several gigs across europe, we didn't get any money for the travel cost. all I trying to say is, that if nobody buys cds anymore It's not the same like don't having anymore bands to listen to. the big ones will die, the underground will be "vitalized" and the regional metal is going to get stronger, which is really cool! I know some kids around our town, that didn't even know that there are undergorund metal bands at their location because they're totaly fed up by the big ones in terms of concerts and stuff.
I know, it's my own undeground point of view. doing gigs is what we're doing for fun out of our pockets. although we had several gigs across europe, we didn't get any money for the travel cost. all I trying to say is, that if nobody buys cds anymore It's not the same like don't having anymore bands to listen to. the big ones will die, the underground will be "vitalized" and the regional metal is going to get stronger, which is really cool! I know some kids around our town, that didn't even know that there are undergorund metal bands at their location because they're totaly fed up by the big ones in terms of concerts and stuff.
You're violating the rights of the people who made the album by taking a service without compensating them for it. If taking advantage of someone else's work and property without their permission isn't stealing... I must not know what stealing is.
Of course we need to be careful with buying CDs... but with online groups like this where recommendations and warnings are keystrokes away, and of course MySpace and bands' webpages that have sample songs, there's no fucking excuse for that behavior anymore.
Yeah, you're not stealing a Ferrari. You're not taking the soup off of someone's stove. But you're using something that does not belong to you without permission. Go ahead and try to justify it with "well, nobody's *really* getting hurt..." or "I wasn't going to buy it anyway (in which case you're twice the cheapskate)" or "At least I'm not raping them with a vacuum cleaner", you're taking something that doesn't belong to you and there's no way around it.
Jeff
hoehlentroll
Member
It's not like I didn't get your point, but as you already said: listening to myspace for choosing the right cd to buy is ok. I don't see the reason why you can't do this with mp3s. For me it's the same as if someone shows me a cd at his place or in the car. I don't keep mp3s I don't have on cd. I fully understand you're concerning, but I'm not the one to blame 
The difference is that with MySpace the band has offered the song up as a preview. You can't do it with MP3s because the band hasn't given permission (unless they have, in which case... enjoy your Nine Inch Nails).
Jeff
Jeff
hoehlentroll
Member
-Gavin-
Gavornator
Can't go into it, but the situation was bankrupting me (as the only member to ever have a job
)
steve.h
New Guy
Getting signed = agreeing to long-term loan to make the loaner cash, in exchange for use of media connections. No getting rich in there for 99.99% of bands.Can't go into it, but the situation was bankrupting me (as the only member to ever have a job
Brett - K A L I S I A
Dreaded Moderator
Brett - K A L I S I A
Dreaded Moderator
-Gavin-
Gavornator
Aware of that... but when you're not using the loan cause there is no money but your own money from your job to fund doing gigs and eating ON THE ROAD
.
steve.h
New Guy
Gah, I'd meant to respond to the guy YOU were responding to! I meant to be agreeing with you & adding evidenceAware of that... but when you're not using the loan but your own money from your job to fund doing gigs and eating ON THE ROAD
My bad!
