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Bob Lefsetz on Downloading AC/DC's Black Ice
Bob Lefsetz, music and marketing guru, has responded (indirectly) to the proposition made in another post - to wait or not to wait: http://lefsetz.com Some key points: "You don’t have to wait until October 20th. You don’t even have to drive to Wal-Mart! Why waste all that gas and time when you can fire up your browser and download AC/DC’s "Black Ice" RIGHT NOW! In superior 320 kbps quality! With no DRM! Record companies no longer care about customers. They just care about business. Extracting the most dollars possible. ... Sure, you can listen to tunes on MySpace Music. But you can’t take them with you. Like you’re supposed to take the CD of "Black Ice" on a trip. If you’re under the age of twenty and show up with a CD binder you’re going to be a social outcast, if you’re not one already. Where were you that you didn’t get the memo? Living under a rock? Even HOME SCHOOLED kids have computers. That’s how you communicate with the outside world! But the major labels know nothing about the outside world. And to the degree they do, they want to deny it. ... I’ve got a question for you… The four major label groups own a large percentage of MySpace Music. WHO GETS THE PROFITS? Are they going to trickle down to the acts? What, did you just fall off the turnip truck? With enough pressure, maybe they’ll kick some pennies to the performers, but I haven’t heard any rumblings yet. THERE IS NO MYSPACE MUSIC WITHOUT THE ACTS? How come they’re getting screwed? How come they don’t get the lion’s share of the profits of MySpace Music? Probably for the same reason they get less than a dime for iTunes sales. Isn’t that a laugh. They took a hit to promote the CD, left their royalty rates low, and now there are no manufacturing and shipping costs and they’re STILL getting screwed. Those 360 deals? The ones the majors sign ignorant acts to? Is the royalty rate still a pittance on iTunes? Why? The old logic was the label can screw you because they’re building your name and you’re going to make money elsewhere, they’re only profiting from music sales. But if the label’s taking a piece of everything, shouldn’t the act get a fair shake for music sales? Not in the topsy-turvy, Wall Street-like major label world. ... Just because AC/DC says their productions must be listened to as albums, that doesn’t make it so. That’s like TV stations saying you’ve got to watch every episode of the season, that you can’t view "30 Rock" out of order. The consumer gets to choose. If you produce something incredibly good, people will want to hear it all. If they don’t… Then maybe they’re just not interested, maybe what you think is so great is really a turd. So what has AC/DC accomplished here? The Internet kept their fame alive and they’ve decided to deny it. They got in bed with the oppressor, the retailer who censors records. Meanwhile, their fan base will just download the damn album for free. The hypocrisy is stunning. They don’t care about their fans, they just care about money. ..." The content I copied and pasted above should be allowable through fair use if you're at all worried about that, Nate. Besides, fellow fans can always click on the link and read the whole rant.
For the record, I feel absolutely no guilt at all about listening to the new album "before" the release date. I have every intention of buying the CD once it is "officially" released to ensure that AC/DC gets their fifty cents or so of royalties from my $15.99 purchase, although I do not foresee myself flipping excitededly and repeatedly through the copies of the $21.99 "Deluxe" version with its complete lack of addtional songs and its hardcover booklet of "artwork."
Same here.One album, probably the Deluxe and the singles.Well actually my first item from black ice is the R N R train promo but that items is purely for collecting purposes so i don't count it.
when will those kinda guys know that AC/DC isn't in it for the money. They're doing this because of the fans and the fans only. The can probably care less about the record company or how much they make from album sales or shows. They are doing this for us and no one else. well maybe themselves too but that'll be for a different post