What is Digg?156 Comments
- 16x9, on 10/12/2007, -9/+134Blame the music industry. The vast majority of the 99 cents received for an iTunes download goes to the music industry for them to divvy up however they see fit.
- rebz, on 10/12/2007, -4/+57Not only that, but more people would be downloading only the funny songs
- noclips, on 10/12/2007, -1/+52link to the actual source rather than a slow blog (4th question down)
http://www.weirdal.com/aa.htm - frozensun, on 10/12/2007, -6/+46this is why I don't buy from itunes:
Internet royalties
With the explosion of the Internet and the ease of downloading music onto your computer, a whole new royalty arena has opened up in recent years. Record companies usually treat downloads as "new media/technology," which means they can reduce the royalty by 20% to 50%. This means that rather than paying artists a 10% royalty on recording sales, they can pay them a 5% to 8% rate when their song is downloaded from the Internet. In the case of downloaded music, although there is no packaging expense, many record company contracts still state that the 25% packaging fee will be deducted.
from http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-royalties6.htm at the bottom - VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -5/+40"I don't think we should make ANY assumptions about the state of the industry based on what Weird Al says is true....
Get a grip."
Why not? He's doing business just like anyone else. What matter does genre make? He probably knows a *****-ton more about the inner workings of the music industry than you do. - leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -38/+72I don't think we should make ANY assumptions about the state of the industry based on what Weird Al says is true....
Get a grip. - fishbert, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27"... knows a *****-ton more ..."
SI units, please. - RaistlinMajere, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26He would make a lot more with his own Cable TV station.
- TheKingInYellow, on 10/12/2007, -4/+28weird al is a real musician, unlike most other "artists" and people will purchase his albums no matter what. his work is creative and well produced (unlike all the poppy crap that has been flushed through the radio and tv for the past 10 to 15 years).
if you break down the purchase of itunes music about 80% goes to the record industry NOT THE ARTIST. if you want your money to go to the artist you should mail them a personal check. - ProfessorRiffs, on 10/12/2007, -3/+25Weird Al is a fantastic, intelligent man and he and his group are one of the best live bands I have ever seen (multiple times, thankfully!)
- telepathetic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23Here is the actual question/answer from Wierd Al's website:
Tim Sloane of Ijamsville, MD asks: Al, which of these purchasing methods should I use in order to make sure the most profit gets to you: Buying one of your albums on CD, or buying one of your albums on iTunes?
I am extremely grateful for your support, no matter which format you choose to legally obtain my music in, so you should do whatever makes the most sense for you personally. But since you ASKED… I actually do get significantly more money from CD sales, as opposed to downloads. This is the one thing about my renegotiated record contract that never made much sense to me. It costs the label NOTHING for somebody to download an album (no manufacturing costs, shipping, or really any overhead of any kind) and yet the artist (me) winds up making less from it. Go figure. - logicalnoise, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20well the thing is the record companies have it ass backwards but the indie labels have it right. With itunes I make 100% of the royalties on any songs i sell. I've only sold one song so far but I made the whole 66 cents I tunes paid out for it.
- Schug, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21The point isn't that Weird Al sells less downloads than he does CDs, it's that he make less profit per sale.
- Sirocco, on 10/12/2007, -3/+23>> "I don't think we should make ANY assumptions about the state of the industry based on what Weird Al says is true....
Why, because he's put out over a dozen albums and had millions in sales? Or is it just that you don't consider him part of the clique because you don't like his music? Thought so. - emiles, on 10/12/2007, -6/+25I totally agree with the argument here that people will pick and choose their songs, and thereby pay less if they don't like all of the songs on the album.
However, this is really just calling out artists who make their money off of "singles" and force people to buy their album for one or two songs. I am glad that these days are nearing an end. Perhaps in the future, only artists who can build strong, coherent albums will be able to make money.
To me, that sounds like it will be good for all of us. - fishbert, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Does he make more money with a single traditional sale than with a single download? Probably.
Do people who wouldn't buy his music on CD, buy downloads of his music? Probably.
Per single transaction, sure, he probably makes more with CDs than downloads. But I bet there are many more of those single transactions taking place now that people can choose to buy downloads of his music from home instead of driving to a record store. - zweben, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16Exactly. This is just the record companies being greedy as usual. They're going to use any lame excuse they can think of to reduce royalties, especially from a format that they fought tooth and nail to keep from taking off.
- superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Yes because they are still pretty damn funny and modern songs are even more deserving of mockery than ever before.
- Dayyve, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12I concur with you...I've heard him in radio interviews and the guy is sheer genius - hence the eccentricity. He really has great views on many, many issues and it's disheartening to hear that the 'new' business model screws over artists even more so. I just assumed that buying from iTunes gave the artists a bigger chunk of the profit. Silly me! Nothing in this world surprises me anymore...
- Xizer, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15Hey *****, guess what? It's a lot harder to write clever lyrics that follow a preset theme than just coming up with your own songs. You have to match the beats and rhythm with completely new words. Weird Al also has many original songs, which don't copy anyone at all.
Kindly shut the hell up and go back under your bridge, troll. - barktwiggs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12I think Weird Al's profitability has more to do with the Record Industry as a whole. Each of his albums probably only contains approximately 75% material based off of popular artists of the time. If one were to track total sales of the industry and compare it with Weird Al's sales (as well as other artists), I bet you that you would find a strong correlation.
That being said, Weird Al is one of my favorite Artists and I would gladly support him through whatever method makes him happier. - TheRappingShoe, on 10/12/2007, -7/+17Perhaps he should make a low budget film about it :)
- lnxaddct, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Geekee,
You're wrong. The question on the website was about buying an entire album from iTunes, not individual songs. Most artists' contract don't have anything about digital downloads, so the record companies lump it in with what is more or less known as the "alt" group of distribution methods. It cuts the artists' share usually to between 50% and 30% of what it traditionally is, sometimes even reducing the artists' cut to 0%. In addition, the record label still gets to deduct the other fees that it associates with typical distribution methods (i.e. shipping, pressing, etc...). The labels are greedy bastards, there is no reason that a musician needs a label in this day and age. Thankfully a lot of musicians are starting to realize this. - timtop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7He should sell his music from his own store. there are a few new companies that are starting to offer this ability already. You can set your price and get 80% of the sale revenue.
see the following for some examples:
http://musicane.com
http://broadjam.com - pype, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14or even better - a UHF station
- superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Best news from this story is that Weird Al has another album out soon! About time. I can always use another dose of polka.
- redivider, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Actually after Apple takes their cut, the rest goes to the copyright holders. For a lot of albums that's a major label. But there are more and more ways every day to get your music on iTunes without having to be on a major label.
For example, if you sell your music through CD Baby, you get 91% of whatever Apple pays out. CD Baby only takes 9%.
In Weird Al's case, it sounds like his label set up the contract so that he gets a smaller % from digital sales than from CD sales. And that was after renegotiating his contract. He may have been backed into a corner for some reason, but you certainly can't blame "the music industry" for this one. At best it's his label's fault for being unethical, and his fault for agreeing to the terms. - Quix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"No, blame people who buy music. With the iTunes option, they buy only the songs they like, which is in general, less than they'd pay for CD's."
Counterpoint: because of iTunes, I buy individual songs from artists whose CDs I would never buy. They are earning money from me they normally wouldn't earn. If I'm not alone, and I'd assume I'm not, things should probably even out in the end.
For artists I really like, I just buy the CD. Sometimes I buy a single on iTunes from a new artist, realize I really like them, and then go buy the CD as well. I think it's a solid system for everyone, artists and consumers. - jjpertusch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7no, josher. that is average. you're in the "i listen to music when it was good, not this current radio crap." stage. you'll grow out of it, dont worry.
- Kazrog, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Weird Al totally pwns. Very smart guy.
- Matrix_Prime, on 10/12/2007, -10/+15yeah, UHF
- natmaster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"This is the one thing about my renegotiated record contract that never made much sense to me." Sounds like 16x9 speaks the truth.
- cmw72, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I've seen Al in concert twice now, and I meet him once at a radio station promotion. He is a genuinely decent guy and a real musician to boot ... not to mention a hell of an entertainer on stage.
It's not bad enough he's getting screwed by his label, he's got to put up with all the haters on Digg as well?!? It's just sad. :( - lamuella, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4basically, no matter how they do it, the record companies will try their hardest to screw people over.
I'm still waiting for the rise of the distributed no-middleman music model that people have been raving about for a long time. If I pay a dollar for a song, I want to see the majority of that dollar go to the people who did the work. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like that's going to happen any time soon. - FreydNot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Two words... Spatula City
- fishbert, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Do 12 year olds like Nirvana?
Does anyone younger than 40 listen to Jimi Hendrix? Or the Beatles?
What about Mozart? How the hell can his work still be selling?! - clickwir, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5More accurate: Weird Al's recording label chooses to pay him less for downloaded music sale than to a physical media sale.
- Pooavenger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4i hate it when ***** bloggers link to their page to get hits. here is the real link: http://www.weirdal.com/aa.htm
- cyclotron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Ug! Day after day I see you kids have no sense of business.
1) Thats the contract he renegotiated! Its his fault.
2) Many artists dont have digital downloads in their contract and the music company own the publishing rights
3) W. Al is likely to sell more downloads than CDs in this new environment. Sure the music industry benefits more, but so does W. Al However, this is a cross over period where downloads may not be that much for him.
You guys have to remember - the artist ALWAYS agrees to these deals by signing the contract. - mooninite, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10He should drop the record company and just put up his music in iTunes by himself. He'd be closer to 90% profit instead of 8%. What a retard.
- pabster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Yeah but that's the problem.
99 out of 100 artists don't have the pull to do anything about it. They (Record Industry) throw the contract on the table, and the artist signs it. There's very little negotiating.
Sure, every once in a while someone can start their own label and start selling that way, but how many artists can afford to do that?
The record companies and those representing them (RIAA) are all a bunch of greedy ***** bastards and I'll stick it to 'em any way I can, every time I can.
Support the Artists, I've always said that. Unfortunately, buying songs on iTunes doesn't do that. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Anyone read the Richard Branson biography about how he started Virgin? It was very interesting to read the point of view of someone having a record company. While they received a lot more than the artists, they had enormous costs from the acts that weren't bringing in any money. Milking the best ones gave them money to give many other bands a chance. Perhaps in the future this will be a complete non-issue, as everyone can just directly sell their records on the net, with word spreading of good bands without a big advertising budget.
- fishbert, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4... and sell only 3 songs due to lack of exposure.
- zip22, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4legally? right...
i wonder how much Weird Al would get from allofmp3. - opes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I suppose we could say the same to you....no one cares.
- fino35, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Finally a Lynwood High graduate makes frontpage on digg, without beating/killing someone.
- Leiterfluid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Finally, someone pointing out that this is because of the way his contract is negotiated. Other artists under different labels may have more (or less) pull when it comes to the terms of royalty payments.
Not that the industry is blameless when it comes to trying to screw artists in general, but this is a specific case with a specific contract. - diafel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I can't find any of Weird Al's music on Itunes. Perhaps the American Itunes is different.
- Daniel591992, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Have any proof?
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