Greed Is Annoying

I should pay more attention to these things since I'm a SOCAN memeber and get their magazine every month(?), but I had to read in the paper yesterday about the rights of copyright holders "to get paid when consumers preview music on iTunes".

That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read, getting paid for a listen. "Artists" should remind themselves that a royalty is a percentage of a sale. A sale. I'm not sure if Artists are greedy or insecure. Probably a bit of both.

Here's my prediciton (if this actually passes and artists get paid for a preview): it can only mean prices will go up ($1 a song is overpriced as it is), and if there's always that reminder of "prices are up because of previews" then nobody's going to buy anything they haven't heard of. Especially Canadian music. Those two words together aren't the pleasant combination you think it would be. SOCAN could ruin it for all Canadians who would like their listeners to come from other countries.

"SOCAN argues that using previews in support of a purely commercial operation cannot be considered 'research'".

Well, you know what, it is research. I'm researching what I want to buy by basing it on what I hear. Just like at a store when I flip through a few pages of a magazine and then decide to buy it...or put it down. Why should some "Artist" get a royalty for something that I may not like? Next SOCAN will probably try and get royalties for YouTube hits.

I'm pretty pissed off about this actually, even though I should be all for it. This whole royalty/internet thing is getting out of hand since there isn't much common sense behind these kinds of decisions.

SOCAN's been greedy before. I remember a couple of years ago, I had to fill out a set list form because we were playing at a little town festival. I'm in a cover band and I'm having to submit a setlist so royalties could be...I'm not sure...paid to the songwriter? It didn't cost us anything out of our pocket so where's that money coming from? And that begs the question of why is a songwriter getting recouped from a live performance?

It's a shame SOCAN has to see things like this. I can't help where I was born but I'm a little ashamed and embarrased to be linked to them.


On that topic, I'd like to remind you fine readers that all of my CDs at CD Baby are marked down as low as I could go ($5.00) and Digital Downloads are only $2 for an album (songs are still $1.00 apiece; I couldn't change that). And I won't charge you for a listen.