Re: GNU/Linux taxed in Poland ?! (fwd)

[Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au>]

veering even further off topic......


On Tue, Nov 14, 2000 at 04:56:01PM +0100, Marek Habersack wrote:

> > 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.
>
> 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).

that's another issue entirely - yes, the record industry rips off
artists too. very few ever make any money at all. record companies are
verminous parasites and i'll be glad to see them bankrupted by the
transition to internet music distribution over the next 10 years or
so...that's why they're terrified of mp3 and battling napster in the
courts, they're fighting for control in a (hopefully doomed) attempt to
save their skins.

anyway, this fee we're talking about is the one levied by the
artists' representative organisation.  In Australia, it's called APRA
(Australasian Performing Right Association) - btw, i mistakenly called
it ARIA before, confusing it with the Australian Recording Industry
Association. what they do is collect a fee for any public performance
of copyright works and somehow divvy up the loot amongst the copyright
holders.

e.g. cafes and bars have to pay a yearly fee if they have a radio or CD
player where the public (their customers) can hear it, companies have to
pay a fee if they have hold music on their PABX, etc.

like i said, in theory it's not such a bad idea. in practice, the way
the proceeds are divvied up is appalling.

> 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.

only those who are extremely lucky (i.e. big enough and famous enough to
be able to renegotiate their ripoff contract) would get as much as 25%
of the retail price.

> I like the idea of on-line promotion of music - see
> http://www.audioglobe.com/ for example.

yep. promotion and sales, too. most artists would make a lot more money
selling direct to the public over the net, cutting out the parasitic
middlemen (aka record companies).

craig

--
craig sanders