The Scene

MusicDetour.com’s commentary on music, performances, and the DC metro area music scene

From time to time I would like to use this space to theorize about the music industry. It would be great to get feedback from people interested in these ideas. This one is specifically trying to describe what P2P networks are. Leave your comments if you have anything to add.

In its infancy, the internet was nothing more than a few people with computers connected over some servers that allowed those people to gather information easier. Many of those first users (more…)

The internet is yet again creating more instability for performers, artists, composers and internet businesses because it once again shifts conventional notions of music. Performance rights on the internet are difficult for corporations, the legal community and trade associations to get their head around at this time. People are always quick to write off the significance of performance rights for several reasons. 1) Consumers feel that they are already paying too much money to listen to music. 2) Some people feel that performance rights are relics that do not reflect the current form of the music industry. 3) Critics think that the whole system is a further way to extract wealth. 4) They simply don’t understand what performance rights are. Unfortunately, there is no clear cut way to approach the issue of performance rights on the internet. (more…)

There is a lot at stake with the development of digital music and the ability to download it over the internet. One of the biggest confusions occurs when the Recording Industry Association of America discusses file-sharing as something that will end recorded music as we know it. If you listen to the RIAA, you are liable to believe that there will no longer be recorded music if file-sharers keep “pirating” music, but this is not close to the truth. Yes, major record labels could lose their dominance in the market place, but does that mean that music is dead? The RIAA has been claiming that the disintermediation provided by the internet will lead to the decline and ultimately the failure of the recording industry. The decline of the recording industry, however, is not the end of music. While the recording industry cannot exist without music, music can exist without the recording industry (even the music industry can exist without the recording industry).

Here’s a broad overview of how the “recording industry” has developed in the United States. (more…)

Previously, I mentioned that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) won its first lawsuit against people sharing music via the internet. As long as there has been copyright legislation, there has been “piracy” – I’m sure that someone was bootlegging copies of Beethoven’s symphonies. However, no one had before been charged for pirating something where they were in turn not profiting from its sale. Sharing music online is not the same thing as selling illegally reproduced music. Furthermore, all of this is being done in the name of the musicians – the RIAA argues that when people download music on file-sharing programs, they are stealing from musicians. But where is the money going from the RIAA’s litigation? Typically the money from lawsuits (not just about file-sharing) goes back to the RIAA and the major record labels. What follows is a brief explanation of why the RIAA and the major record labels are more exploitative of musicians than file-sharers. Future blog posts will further elucidate the erroneous nature of the music industry’s arguments about file-sharing. (more…)

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been filing lawsuits against “pirates” (aka music file-sharers) since 2003, but few people have tried to fight them. They sue users for an absurd amount of money for each song that they upload and these people usually have uploaded songs in the 1000s. In fact no case has gone to trial . . . until now. A jury of your “peers” found Jammie Thomas-Rasset guilty of willfully violating copyright law – cost: $1.92 million! You read that right, $1,920,000 or $80,000 per song and they convicted her of sharing 24 songs. (more…)

The recording industry is infamous for signing bands and artists into bad contracts that do not lead to greater things for the artists. Usually, the record labels explain the lack of success for their artists by claiming that the market couldn’t bear their music. It is rarely mentioned that this problem stems from the label investing more money in certain artists than others. The determination about which artist to invest in is frequently “from the gut” and has nothing to do with data, but rather with the feeling that certain executives have about particular bands. None of this even begins to discuss when bands are signed to eliminate competition.

When most people think of record contracts and “getting signed”, they think of big name artists making millions of dollars, but a typical record contract creates exploitation similar to that of a share-cropper. (more…)

Typically I review music and venues, but sometimes things need to be said about audiences. Last weekend, I went to see the DJ Williams Projeckt at Whitlow’s. This is the third time in the past year that I have seen DJ Williams at Whitlow’s and every time the band has been great. The odd thing as that each time less and less people have been at the show. I say this because oddly I have seen Whitlow’s packed for some awful bands, but for some reason people aren’t interested in seeing quality music for only $5 (I’d see just about any band for $5, the fact that the DJ Williams Projekt is a well known funk group makes this price great). (more…)

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is charged with the task of creating a legal/political atmosphere so that record labels can generate massive profits. While it professes to be representative of the entire recording industry, the members of its board are primarily from the “Big Four” record labels (Sony BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner). These four companies control the vast majority of the music industry (including so-called “indie” labels).

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