CD Burning & The Human Choice

[Henning]

CD Burning & The Human Choice
(by Terry Lee Hale - http://www.terryleehale.com)

This something that I need to address and haven't so far. I know that lot's of people are taking advantage of CD burning these days. Hell, they include a burner in most newly purchased PC's. If you don't have much money (I'm sure the main reason) or live in places where you can't buy the music in stores from artists that you like (again usually about money) than a CD burner is what you use. Friends exchange music in this way. I've even seen TLH burned CD's in cities that I gig that were copied from the promo CD I sent to get the gig in the first place! In the recent past Cd's have cost a lot of money. If you don't know someone's music personally or hadn't had it recommended to you, than it was hard to justify buying a copy. Hey, $18 and up for a CD is a lot of money to chance losing. (I recently paid 23€ for the new Placebo!).

Burning hurts all artists that make and sell Cd's. The difference though is the amount of hurt. A 50% drop in sales (!!) certainly hurts me a lot more than it does Metallica (for example). Then again, Metallica's costs are a lot more than mine AND besides; it is rightfully their money. CD burning has certainly been a major factor now in the disappearance of the independent record companies. I'm not laying all the problems of recent years on the little CD burner either. High CD prices, lot's of mediocre music, DVD's and video games, the huge sensory overload and on and on are just some of the reasons. I just don't think the world is as enamored with music anymore. In an increasingly selfish world, music is too personally of an experience perhaps? Hell, people are not even buying books anymore as is evidenced by the disappearances of bookstores.

The record companies and musicians are fighting back. Most everyone has lowered his or her prices drastically and of course this was the most important thing to do. Excuse me but new CD's for less than 15, $ or €, is a good and fair price. You don't even have to leave your home to get the cd either. I mean how easy can it get??

Personally speaking I can say that my sales figures are down drastically for "Celebration What For". I don't lie all of this as the cause of CD burning but it is one area where I can perhaps make an effort to remedy. Making CD's affordable will help. If you can't absolutely afford a Terry Lee Hale CD and need one then by all means download it. I DO understand. Otherwise please know that you buying my music, either online or hard copy, directly supports me and my ability to continue to make recordings, tour and indeed, pay the rent and buy food. If you do indeed enjoy the music made by real live people then please, DON'T BURN! Buy their CD's! It's the human choice.

[Henning]

I really like this man and love his concerts. Great guitar player and singer. And always easy to talk to. So I hope my friend Elsie is going to see him in Skien in November and Tom in Zagreb in December. Whenever I see him he uses to ask me "What is that name of that fucking island again that I should visit whenever I am in Greece ?" - and I answer: "Hydra" !

[lizzytysh]

I hope Elsie goes to see him in November, and Tom in December, and tell him that Henning says, "It's Hydra ~ June 10-12, Terry." Maybe the more recent reminders will help him retain the information ~ and I will be able to tell him in person how much I agree with his stance on burning CDs. Dreadful info on the disappearing bookstores. Perhaps, that and the lessening interest in music[?] relates to diminishing attention spans . How about a new poster or bumper sticker ~ "Buy ~ Don't Burn!"

[Velvet Landmine]

I understand what the author of your transcribed article is saying, but the answer isn't so simple in my opinion. My response is more to the general complaints I always read regarding internet piracy, etc.

Burning CDs is quick and easy. I keep all of my favorite albums stored on my computer. When I'm online fooling around (like here) or actually working at my PC, I can listen to whatever I want in whatever order I want. Going on a trip? No problem. I select a playlist and within ten minutes I have a CD to carry out to my car, without any worries about potentially losing or breaking it (since the blank CD cost me under a dollar). I can do this with songs I've copied off of CDs I actually bought (90% of what I have stored) or with songs I've gotten from Kazaa or elsewhere (10%).

Throw-away artists like Britney Spears (who does have some great dance tunes if you're into that genre) typically sell albums with two-to-three potential hits and seven-to-ten filler songs. If I'm (LOL...theoretically) throwing a party where I want to play the latest hits, why not download a free copy of "My Prerogative" and add it to a compilation CD? Why on earth would I pay $15 or $20 for the entire CD (especially since single CDs are marketed in limited numbers and only available for the first couple of weeks of release, as a way to force fans to buy the full-length CD)?

From what I've seen among my peers and kids/teens (like my daughter's friends), there's no longer (like when I was younger) a need to buy a CD to get to one song. CDs are starting to sell not based on a particular song, but on how the CD is packaged, the overall music quality consistency, and how the artist connects to his or her or their audience. The overall musical quality of a CD has to be better--with more than two songs worth listening to. The packaging also has to attract buyers. Even seemingly simple things like a bonus DVD or stickers work. (I've seen record companies effectively sell a band's CD packaged with a promotional DVD featuring a video by the band along with the videos of other label artists.) And of course the artists needs to connect to the audience. Buying something is psychologically not just owning the CD, but buying into and owning the artist.

Why would a kid pay $25.00 for a band's t-shirt, or $10.00 for a band's logo lighter, but not pay $15.00 for the band's album? Because the album contains precisely the types of things that the kid can make at home. So the answer is for record companies to give the customers what they want--things they can't make themselves, or at least couldn't easily make themselves. Why not put a few well-made stickers in with a CD?

Basically, telling people to "buy--don't burn" is a nice sentiment, but it doesn't work for most consumers. Instead of going after and sueing college kids for music theft, offer a better alternative. Tough legal tactics don't work for things like this.

[lizzytysh]

Hi Velvet ~

Your response is well reasoned, with regard to how you feel. I'm glad to hear you obtain the majority of your music from the store or legitimate sites [which Kazaa is, right? if not, it's only the 10%'er], where I understand the artist does get a cut.

My suggestion for the bumper sticker came quickly as a tongue-in-cheek thought, actually ~ simply a way to underscore my feelings that we actually do what we can to support our favoured artists. Perhaps, that's the key? Support those you truly love. With the rest, download or whatever. If everyone did that with those they love most it might balance out a little better, eh?

~ Lizzy

[rick]

Sadly, I feel this says more about the human condition than we would admit. Baiscally, CD copying and illegal downloading is looting. Justifications abound (record companies are bad is the big one). But in the end it's simply that people can get it for free, so they will.

Personally, I don't understand the high price issue. I spend $4 for a 12 pack of Coke every week, I put $20 of gas in a car every two weeks, I spend $8-10 on lunch, $3 for a gallon of milk. $150 for two pairs of tennis shoes every summer and wear them out by fall. $15,000 for a car I hope will last 10 years. $1000 a year for car insurance.

I buy a CD and it's mine forever, I never have to buy it again, I can do with it what I want. It can lift my mood, change my mood, create my mood. I want a steak dinner, $20 every time, I want to listen to some Ray Charles, I pull it from my collection and this CD I purchased 10 years ago can alter my day. I dont' have to run out and buy it again, it's mine.
I think purchasing music is the best deal out there, anywhere.

[Velvet Landmine]

Hi Velvet ~

Your response is well reasoned, with regard to how you feel. I'm glad to hear you obtain the majority of your music from the store or legitimate sites [which Kazaa is, right? if not, it's only the 10%'er], where I understand the artist does get a cut.

My suggestion for the bumper sticker came quickly as a tongue-in-cheek thought, actually ~ simply a way to underscore my feelings that we actually do what we can to support our favoured artists. Perhaps, that's the key? Support those you truly love. With the rest, download or whatever. If everyone did that with those they love most it might balance out a little better, eh?

~ Lizzy

Kazaa is a free service, but I don't personally use it anymore because there are too many viruses hidden in people's music files. Any 'illegally downloaded' music I own was given to me by friends.

Anyway, your comment about supporting artists is partly what I mean...in that artists need to be 'supportable' (if that's even a term). For people to want to buy into an artist, the artist needs to connect to people. The music needs to mean something to the customer beyond playing the CD's hits at a pool party. Someone like Leonard Cohen does this; someone like Britney Spears does not.

[Paula]

Hi Velvet - I stopped using Kazaa for the same reason too many viruses. I am still saddled with two that won't go away.

But if you don't have sites like Kazza it is very hard to find a song that is past its sell-by date. I recently downloaded "I'd rather go blind" by Chicken Shack and "Train tour to Rainbow CIty" by the Pyramids. These were impossible to find unless you go to a web site and download from there. So they do have a place in the world.

[Guest]

But... Kazaa is one of those peer to peer places, which means you are downloading songs illegally in most parts of the world, thus the artist is not getting anything at all.

From Kazaa's website:
Use of the software in the manner authorized by Kazaa’s End User License Agreement is legal in most jurisdictions. Use of the software to download copyrighted works without the permission of the copyright owner may be illegal in many jurisdictions.

Regardless of whether it's legal in your jurisdiction or not, NO MONEY goes to the artist. Ever. None. Zilch.

This is CD copying to the max. You make a CD or ten for you closest friends it hurts the artist, you make a copy for several million of your "closest friends" around the world to illegally download, you kill the artist.

[Velvet Landmine]

Hi Velvet - I stopped using Kazaa for the same reason too many viruses. I am still saddled with two that won't go away.

But if you don't have sites like Kazza it is very hard to find a song that is past its sell-by date. I recently downloaded "I'd rather go blind" by Chicken Shack and "Train tour to Rainbow CIty" by the Pyramids. These were impossible to find unless you go to a web site and download from there. So they do have a place in the world.

You're right...Kazaa is great for finding things that are out-of-print.

One thing I look forward to with online music sales (like on iTunes) is eventually seeing a lot of rare stuff being made available.

[Velvet Landmine]

But... Kazaa is one of those peer to peer places, which means you are downloading songs illegally in most parts of the world, thus the artist is not getting anything at all.

From Kazaa's website:
Use of the software in the manner authorized by Kazaa’s End User License Agreement is legal in most jurisdictions. Use of the software to download copyrighted works without the permission of the copyright owner may be illegal in many jurisdictions.

Regardless of whether it's legal in your jurisdiction or not, NO MONEY goes to the artist. Ever. None. Zilch.

This is CD copying to the max. You make a CD or ten for you closest friends it hurts the artist, you make a copy for several million of your "closest friends" around the world to illegally download, you kill the artist.

You're right, as well.

But my point is that the internet is here to stay and like it or not, people share files and will continue to do so. In fact, with faster connections and bigger hard drives, file sharing will continue to grow. So in my opinion the only answer is to up the ante on the part of the artists. Sell a musical product that people want to buy.

A mother can easily feed a child a hot dog with a per unit cost of thirty cents and the child will love it. So why does the mother run through the McDonald's drive-thru and get the kid a Happy Meal for ten times as much money? It's the imagery of fun (however fake that might be), the ease of not having to cook the food herself, and the extras (a beverage, fries, and even a toy).

If your LC Greatest Hits CD got a scratch so that Bird on the Wire skipped, wouldn't you (or most people) be tempted to simply burn a copy of the song off of someone else's CD? But what if you learned that the record company was releasing new versions of the CD featuring a complimentary DVD of a rare live performance of Bird on the Wire, plus an LC sticker for your car? Wouldn't that push you over the edge from burning the song to buying a new copy of the CD?

It's economics. The world is changing and the music industry is a business...it needs to adapt to the new way consumers think. And these extras (like DVDs and stickers) can be made very cheaply and with little extra packaging cost (since they're bundled right with the CDs).

[Paula]

It is not the artists fault. It is time the main stream sellers realised it is they that are creating this backlash. You can buy a blank CD for 50p, newspapers in Britain at the moment are awash with free CDs both audio and visual and as the paper only costs 50p and you get a free CD and I assume they still make a profit in the print why the hell do legit CDs cost so much.

The only CD I intend buying from a shop this year is Dear Heather and that is because I want the bona fide copy for my collection but if CD's in this country retail at £15.99p for chart or new releases then someone is making a huge profit at the buying publics expense whilst at the same time preaching about the effect burning and downloading is causing to their artists.

They need to clear their own backyards before telling us we are putting the musicians in dire straits. I have no idea how much the artist gets per CD but I would have thought the profit margin to the Record Company is in excess of 70% and the artist get the pickings after taxes.

If they retailed DVDs, CDs and videos at a reasonable price they would still make a hefty profit and their sales would improve 1000%.

Do I feel guilty about buying stuff from boot fairs or downloading? No I don't but I would rather buy the genuine article at a fair price.

[rick]

What's the cost of the aluminum for a can of coke? Or a plastic bottle?
Hardly anything, pennies if that. You're paying for manufacturing, labor, trucks, etc. Why does a pair of This message has been classified as spam and will be deleted by the moderators's that are made for less than $5 in some third world country cost $50?
Same with a music CD. You can't look at the price of a CD-R and draw the conclusion that someone is making a boat load of money. Studios, engineers, janitors, secretaries, promotion, rent, etc., it all cost money and it's not cheap.
It's not a perfect system but none are. There is no excuse for not buying music. Just because it's there to be downloaded for free means nothing. It's no different than taking anything else without paying for it. The only difference is that if you walk out of a store with This message has been classified as spam and will be deleted by the moderators's the police will come. That's not likely in the safety of your own home as you download someone else's music and pay them nothing.
It's been proven that the cost of a CD has increased no more than everything else in relation to inflation. They are not gouging anyone. I remember when a 12 pack of coke was 99 cents. It's $4.39 here in the states.
Like I said before, music is the best buy out there.

[Velvet Landmine]

It is not the artists fault. It is time the main stream sellers realised it is they that are creating this backlash. You can buy a blank CD for 50p, newspapers in Britain at the moment are awash with free CDs both audio and visual and as the paper only costs 50p and you get a free CD and I assume they still make a profit in the print why the hell do legit CDs cost so much.

The only CD I intend buying from a shop this year is Dear Heather and that is because I want the bona fide copy for my collection but if CD's in this country retail at £15.99p for chart or new releases then someone is making a huge profit at the buying publics expense whilst at the same time preaching about the effect burning and downloading is causing to their artists.

They need to clear their own backyards before telling us we are putting the musicians in dire straits. I have no idea how much the artist gets per CD but I would have thought the profit margin to the Record Company is in excess of 70% and the artist get the pickings after taxes.

If they retailed DVDs, CDs and videos at a reasonable price they would still make a hefty profit and their sales would improve 1000%.

Do I feel guilty about buying stuff from boot fairs or downloading? No I don't but I would rather buy the genuine article at a fair price.

The free CDs you get with newspapers and magazines are promotional. I'm not sure how British tax laws work, but here the costs of producing and distributing promotional materials are a tax write-off for the record companies. That is, sure it costs them money, but not as much as you'd imagine.

Fifteen years ago an album (vinyl back then) cost me $10-$15 (that's about 15 to 25 pounds). So really, it wasn't so much different from what it is now when inflation is taken into consideration (even though US inflation hasn't gone up too much in fifteen years). I buy CDs now for $12 to $18 (with a lot of new releases available for ten dollars their first week of release, I think as a way to make the CD sell more and make the charts for publicity purposes). LOL...my point here is that CD prices have gone up with inflation, but not gone too far above inflation, if that makes sense.

Overall CD sales are down, though, which the record companies are quick to blame on illegal file sharing. But really, at least from what I've seen, it's part of the fall out from all of the independent labels which were able to reach a wider audience with the internet. Fifteen years ago, if you had a band, you had to sign to a major label to get serious widespread exposure. But today you can launch a website, produce and manufacture your own CDs (I've seen professionally-made ones with covers, artwork, jewel cases, etc., made at $1 a piece when 1000 are bought at once). That's a HUGE deal to bands and smaller labels. Back when things had to be expensively burnt onto vinyl (the whole groove-creating process is amazing), your average start-up band had no way of sharing its music except through homemade cassette tapes.

I'm really going off on a tangent here but my point is that it's the very nature of the business which has changed. Rather than recognize these changes and seek to adapt, the record companies have gone after people who download, demonizing them as thieves who are crippling the music industry...as if the mainstream music industry is now or ever has been the litmus test for creativity and genius (XTina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Celine Dion, etc., are proof enough that this isn't true).

There's also the fact that demographics are changing. Baby boomers who bought loads of albums through the eighties aren't buying so many any more. And then there's the poor economy, with more and more people employed in the service industries where they simply don't make enough money to buy CDs in bulk.

[Velvet Landmine]

What's the cost of the aluminum for a can of coke? Or a plastic bottle?
Hardly anything, pennies if that. You're paying for manufacturing, labor, trucks, etc. Why does a pair of This message has been classified as spam and will be deleted by the moderators's that are made for less than $5 in some third world country cost $50?
Same with a music CD. You can't look at the price of a CD-R and draw the conclusion that someone is making a boat load of money. Studios, engineers, janitors, secretaries, promotion, rent, etc., it all cost money and it's not cheap.
It's not a perfect system but none are. There is no excuse for not buying music. Just because it's there to be downloaded for free means nothing. It's no different than taking anything else without paying for it. The only difference is that if you walk out of a store with This message has been classified as spam and will be deleted by the moderators's the police will come. That's not likely in the safety of your own home as you download someone else's music and pay them nothing.
It's been proven that the cost of a CD has increased no more than everything else in relation to inflation. They are not gouging anyone. I remember when a 12 pack of coke was 99 cents. It's $4.39 here in the states.
Like I said before, music is the best buy out there.

You're right on about the overhead costs of producing music (beyond the mere basic CD manufacturing). I'd like to also point out that a lot of the biggest hits on the radio right now have many more songwriters than in the past. What was it--seven or eight people--who wrote Jennifer Lopez's song "Jenny from the Block"...a song which has basically no lyrics except, "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got/I'm still, I'm still Jenny from the block/Used to have a little, now I got a lot/I'm still Jenny from the block." Sadly, that moronic ditty has sold millions of CDs, and everyone wants to be paid for their contributions to it. When that many people each need a cut of the pie, you have to satisfy them with a big pie.