<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>On Mar 5, 2008, at 3:57 AM, Joe Borne wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">The article says it all. You're all intelligent people, I'll let you discern for yourself why this is the death knell of the RIAA.<br><br><i>"It looks like Trent Reznor's <a href="http://slashdot.org/mainpage/08/03/03/1420251.shtml?tid=141">new Nine Inch Nails album experiment</a> is a success. Among the various <a href="http://ghosts.nin.com/main/order_options">options</a> he gave fans, the most expensive was the $300 Limited Edition Ultra Deluxe Package. It took just over a day <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080304/162842435.shtml">for that package to completely sell out</a>, earning Reznor $750,000 in revenue from just that option alone."<br> <br><a href="http://slashdot.org/articles/08/03/05/076221.shtml">http://slashdot.org/articles/08/03/05/076221.shtml</a><br></i></blockquote><br></div><div>Yes, once you have had a successful record deal you can do stuff like that. Look at Radiohead's last record. "Pay whatever you want" model earned them loads of cash. I can put a record out tomorrow that is "download and pay whatever you want" and I'll get a total of about $50 for my efforts. Even bands that aren't as popular can create listener-supported records (Einstürzende Neubauten did it a few years back where listeners paid a "subscription" fee for something like $25 and got to see live feeds of them in the studio making the record, your username printed on a poster that came with the CD and the CD mailed to you when it was done) but you need a major or relatively large label contract before you can do any of this stuff because most musicians simply can't afford to create and promote their music until they're already successful. $10k will get you a quality-sounding record, packaging plus promotion enough to get you a tiny bit of press and some online reviews. If you want any more than "some exposure", you're talking about $50k out of your pocket. That's what labels are for and that's the investment the RIAA is trying to protect for those labels. For every NIN or Radiohead success there are hundreds of $50k failures.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>I whole-heartedly disagree with the RIAA tactics in trying to sue the listeners, but I also whole-heartedly agree the RIAA needs to exist. I want to know their lawyers are available in case someone tries to pass off one of my songs as their own or covers one of my songs and forgets to pay me. I know I don't have the money to fight that in court.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>-Brad</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></body></html>