February 11, 2012

Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Label Bashing / Why Major Labels Suck – Volume 1

Why Major Labels Suck – Volume 1

June 17, 2006 By 3 Comments

First, let me explain why this is titled version 1. The logic is simple. There will undoubtedly be a lot of these posts because there are an almost insurmountable number of reasons why major labels suck. I’ll try my best not to simply state that they con artists out of money, although in many cases they do, and give a more rounded opinion. So, in volume 1 we’re going to briefly discuss how major labels con artists out of money when they offer digital downloads to consumers. Weird Al Yankovic pointed out that he makes considerably less (although, still considerably more than most I would imagine) money when his singles or albums sell as digital downloads. He points out that while it costs the labels and producers considerably less money to offer a song for download than to produce it on CD the artist sees less money. This despite, in the case of iTunes, an album only costing the consumer a couple of dollars less. Thedigitalmusicweblog rather conveniently did some math to save every one else the effort so thanks for that. I’ll cut a somewhat long mathematical story short here. Not only does the post point out that Weird Al (like so many other artists) only receives 4% of the sales from his digital music but also that he would be earning, on average, $45 for every thousand songs sold. That’s 4.5 cents per song; when you consider that albums from Weird Al sell on iTunes for around $12 each that’s ludicrous. In contrast, a $15 CD would line Weird Al’s pockets with about 31 cents per song. Obviously, the morale of this story to most of us is not that we should buy the CD to make artists more money but something else. Artists on the books of major record labels get shafted whether their music sells digitally or on CD. Keep your eyes peeled for volume 2, which is sure to be with you sooner than you think.

Filed Under: Label Bashing

Comments

  1. Shadow says:
    February 9, 2008 at 12:12 am

    I have to agree with you about the fact that the labels ( the major ones anyway) suck big time. They suck talent out of artists, when they dangle these great contracts in front of them. In the first place the artists are generally concerned more with writing a new song, and leave the business aspect to their agents, and business managers. Little to they realize that the labels bottom line is to make money. SO you see a deal like you mention with Weird Al. Hard to believe he is getting shafted, but he is. If he is getting shafted, doesn’t it seem logical that he isn’t the only one?

  2. Joe Merrick says:
    November 7, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    This song is my response to “Katy Perry’s” “I Kissed a Girl” and to the general demise of the record industry
    have listen if you like
    thanks
    joe merrick
    http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=joe+merrick+naked+song&aq=f

  3. chris ryant says:
    March 10, 2011 at 2:53 am

    Hello there… i am a music lover,i can state that because i own thousands of albums, my favorite bands or artists include, Iron Maiden,Loreena Mckennit, Duran Duran , Vain etc. My question dates back some years to the 1992,1993 era. When the music shift was happening (and it was by all means time for a change) the so called hair metal bands were simply dumped in the ditch,now …i thought the record business was about making money,many of the dumped bands would have (some did after being picked up by CMC)still sold some albums,just not nearly as much,but with light promo , the fan base would have picked up on them . Some of these bands put out there best works in the days after grunge or whatever hit . (It all sounds like rock to me…) My question is about the intentional destruction of these bands (beavis and butthead ripping 2x platinum and a very melodic heavy album “monkey business off slave to the grind” is 1 big example out of a hundred such instances in the “media” What was the reason or point ? How does a great songwriter like jani lane not have his own nich? oh yea speaking of,1993 warrant put out dog eat dog to lite promo and no hit and it sold over 500k , they were then dropped by there bs label…oh well thats my question about that weirdness and it’s coming from a person that was seeing these bands in 92 wearing a nirvana shirt because i had and still have no clue what the big deal is or was…i was even getting weird looks from the “hair metal ” bands and had no idea at the time because it all sounds like rock to me…there is good rock and bad rock…end of story. the so called alternative people put the lie to everything they say everytime they open there mouths”we dont care what the band looks like”well…if you dont have short hair you people immediatly discount any musical talent the band has. Dont even say anything back to me about that statement…you will lose. I have and love as many so called “alternative albums” as “metal albums” it all sounds like rock n roll.

Speak Your Mind

*