Cocaine's a hell of a drug.

Damn apple! Damn them and their ethical business practices!

What needs to happen is for all these record labels to go bankrupt so the old guard will get bounced out of their cushy, overpaid jobs. Only then will there be recognition of the way the world works today.

That just means even fewer people would pay for songs.

That just means even fewer people would pay for songs.

That's just what I was thinkin'.

i think what the majors are really afraid of is that folks like jobs will become the new face of record labels in the world.

up until now, the major label conglomerates have held a death grip on the music industry by employing standard oil-like monopolies on the whole infrastructure that allows the system to work - from the artists' union, recording studios and manufacturing facilities all the way thru not only the marketing and promotions but by owning a fair chunk of the distribution outlets as well.

i won't spend a lot of time on the old napster, kazaa and others, because they were, yes, in their original forms, technically illegal, other than to say that they accelerated the development of pay-per-download sites like itunes. that, and they showed us what real assholes metallica were. i mean, suing 8-year olds? come ON.

now there is the real possibility that folks like jobs can become the "new" labels. anyone with access to the internet can completely bypass the recording industry assholes and buy music almost directly from the artist. even directly from the artists' site, in some cases. they don't need some a&r prick telling them what they should record and how they should sound, and then proceed to keep 75% of the booty from their sales. now artists can write what they really want, charge a fair price for it, and actually be able to make a living at it for a change.

sony, warner, etc... your days as the godfathers of entertainment are more and more quickly running out... artists don't need you anymore... music fans aren't beholden to you anymore... either change with the times or become the new dinosaurs...

too bad apple can't be a record label (as per thier settlement with apple records way back in the day) jobs has enough brand built into his name to encourage or just plain start his own 'label' that isn't called apple though.

everybody should try to catch the current touring Z-TRIP show!

hehe. plug.

Well, more importantly than being a "label", he controls a major distribution outlet.

Download music for free illegally. Duh.

[Edited on Sep 20, 2005 by ricosuave]

He could always buy apple records.

I think the agreement said he could not use his apple brand for music.

So he could use another brand name.

Come on people! Pitch in! Metallica is starving here!

.99 cents is already too much.

I admit I do that pretty regularly, but if I really like the album I DL'd, I'll shell out the $$ and buy the CD anyway. I considerer it my idea of "try before you buy".