** On Nov 14, Craig Sanders scribbled: [snip] > > The *same* fee? So if you operate a broadcasting station that can > > reach 10 million people, you pay the same amount as a shop that has > > standing capacity for 10 people? > > no, i don't believe it's the exact same fee. i don't know what radio > stations pay. i used to know what cafes etc were expected to pay but > that was 5 years ago. > > any kind of public performance (including hold music/muzak on telephone > systems) incurs some fee. here the fee is always the same. > > > what's worse is that they still demand you pay even if the only > > > music you play is your own material or licensed direct from the > > > artists (who happen to be your friends). they assume that because > > > you CAN play other material that you in fact are. > > > > That's very similar to the Buma (http://www.buma.nl/uk/home.htm) here > > in the Netherlands. > > to tell the truth i don't mind the basic idea, it's nice in theory - > artists should be compensated for public performance of their work. in Craig, it's a THEORY, pure THEORY. The artists get the least - the biggest share goes to the record companies. Do you know what is the cost of a single CD - fully recorded, with sleeves etc. etc.? It's around US $3.5 (here in Poland), while the retail price of the CD is almost US $12 (or more). From what I know (from people who make their living out of the music they play) they get about 20-25% of the total retail price. All the rest goes to the record companies and shops selling the records. I like the idea of on-line promotion of music - see http://www.audioglobe.com/ for example. That's fair and that's what should be done... Other than that, I fully agree with you - artists should be rewarded for the music we listen to an which we enjoy. If there was only a way to pay the artists directly... Perhaps attending concerts is a better way? Or a band's homepage where you can fetch high-quality music as an ISO image, or MP3 or whatever and pay with your credit card DIRECTLY to the band? Yeah, wishful thinking, I know :) > practice, however, almost all of the money goes to a handful of the more > famous bands because ARIA have a yearly "ratings" week and artists get > paid proportionally according to the playlists for that week...so all Then it's even worse than what I was told... > the small bands get their friends to call the request shows and ask for > their music just so they can get a miniscule fraction of the loot. most > bands get nothing, some get slightly more than nothing, a few get the > rest. > > > > They also wanted to levy a surcharge on the sale of blank cdroms > > because as you can use them to duplicate audio cds, you *will*. Very > > nice if e.g. you're trying to distribute debian cds. However, that > > attempt fortunately died a silent death. > > they managed to get something like that through here in oz for blank > tapes. Really??? > they tried for DAT tapes too, but I think they failed because they are > mostly used for professional purposes (including computer backup) rather > than for consumer audio. can't remember exactly, i could be wrong. > > this is veering wildly off-topic.... Yeps, so it is :)) marek
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