Firstly, Byron Bay is bloody expensive these days.
Secondly, Silverchair had a massive hit last year with Straight Lines, and whatever you think of their 90's grunge-wannabe music, at least it wasn't emo-wannabe. The new song makes my ears bleed.
The Australian music scene is doing well. Tons of unsigned or barely-signed bands are somehow finding money to attend SXW in Texas or to record in LA or Scandinavia. And of course there are guys like indie sensation John Butler (notably missing from the 'documentary' lineup), who did everything himself and did it without ever whining about fans taking his money.
And of course let's not forget that the record companies take the vast majority of all earnings from CD sales, anyway. Bands make their money from concerts and merchandise. This has been true for decades. This is precisely why Trent Reznor, upon learning how much Australian retailers were charging for his music, advised a massive Sydney audience last year to steal his music.
We (Australians) pay substantially more for CDs than any other country I've ever been to, whether they're local or imported. I-Tunes, emusic and other similar sites actually restrict the material they will sell to us.. and now, as you've pointed out, Microsoft has screwed over anybone who bought music from them.
So, yeah, you want people to stop stealing music? Make it cheaper and more available.
And don't even get me started on the Myspace thing...
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2008-04-30 01:18 pm (UTC)Firstly, Byron Bay is bloody expensive these days.
Secondly, Silverchair had a massive hit last year with Straight Lines, and whatever you think of their 90's grunge-wannabe music, at least it wasn't emo-wannabe. The new song makes my ears bleed.
The Australian music scene is doing well. Tons of unsigned or barely-signed bands are somehow finding money to attend SXW in Texas or to record in LA or Scandinavia. And of course there are guys like indie sensation John Butler (notably missing from the 'documentary' lineup), who did everything himself and did it without ever whining about fans taking his money.
And of course let's not forget that the record companies take the vast majority of all earnings from CD sales, anyway. Bands make their money from concerts and merchandise. This has been true for decades. This is precisely why Trent Reznor, upon learning how much Australian retailers were charging for his music, advised a massive Sydney audience last year to steal his music.
We (Australians) pay substantially more for CDs than any other country I've ever been to, whether they're local or imported. I-Tunes, emusic and other similar sites actually restrict the material they will sell to us.. and now, as you've pointed out, Microsoft has screwed over anybone who bought music from them.
So, yeah, you want people to stop stealing music? Make it cheaper and more available.
And don't even get me started on the Myspace thing...
-- JF