Post by Cindy on Mar 22, 2006 14:12:56 GMT -5
I apologize if this is not the correct topic area for this post....and the mods here can move it if they can figure out where it should go. I just wanted to put it somewhere where everyone who supports Marty Casey and Lovehammers could see it... it really explains a whole lot about the recording industry and why we have to work even harder to promote this band!
www.americansuperstarmag.com/music/Feb06/No_Address_page1.php
Here is the text in case you want to read it here.
---------
Buy the Damn Album
Members of the band No Address speak out on the impact of downloading music illegally.
Story by Jessamyn Cuneo
American Superstar Mag,
February 2006
Fighting to claim a space in the record industry is a constant battle for musicians. As soon as the music exists, it belongs to anyone who wants it. No Address is a band that has had first-hand experience with this struggle. Alternative is one of the hardest genres to master in the music world, and this band can feel how slippery their footing is.
Millions of people have downloaded free music. We all have our various rationalizations when confronted with the fact that it's illegal: "But I only like one song," "I can't afford to buy every record I like," or how about, "CDs can get scratched, MP3s can't…" I'm sure you can hear your own excuse ringing in your ears right now.
Rolling Stone printed an article a few years ago, when file-sharing had just begun, exposing the fact that each $10 to $20 CD sold cost seven cents to make, and pennies of the sales actually go to the artist. This was my excuse to steal music for years, until I had a chance to sit down with the highly articulate and intelligent rock group No Address. They were able to explain to me what goes on behind record production and sales.
The truth is so important and interesting. Talking with guitarist Justin Long, and lead singer Ben Lauren, I discovered something that every music listener in the world should know.
Long slouches in a chair under bright florescent lights, his bleach-blonde hair hangs in his face, and he speeds through cigarettes while laying it all out. Lauren is sitting on a couch opposite from his band mate. He's wearing an oversize red hooded sweatshirt, and looks like he's someone's brother home from college for the holidays. He's got a sort of teddy-bear quality that makes him hard to picture in front of the mic, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Long begins by saying, "People think that music among all things on earth should be free. You suffer, and you spend all kinds of time and money, and you give up so much just to do it - and that's all you've done. It's not like you're trying to sell them a juicer that's not going to work…"
Lauren is nodding in agreement and says, "Say we go across country, and we can sell out show, after show, after show. That's great, but only 10,000 people have bought our CD. Someone puts it on the Internet, and a couple million have downloaded it. That hurts the record company, so the record company stops putting money into your band, so there is no [next] CD and people will never hear from you again.
"We don't have money to be on tour. We get money from the record company to be here. If you're not moving enough units to make the record company happy, they don't put you on tours like this, and you don't get out to new people…so these [fans] are actually shooting themselves in the foot."
Long agrees that this is where people are confused.
"Buying a CD is really like voting, I like this band and I like this kind of music," he says. "The example I always give - and you have no idea how literally true this is - is this: We were allowed to make our record the way we wanted to make it because Jet had done really well. And not that we sound like Jet, but we were making a "raw rock" record, like really rock, and the only way we got away with doing that was because Jet had been really successful doing that kind of thing.
"And we had all these conversations about Jet and every time somebody would be like, 'We think it needs to be blah blah blah,' we would be like, 'Well, what about Jet? Everybody's loving the f*ck outta Jet…' and the label went, 'Yeah, you're right, ok.' "
Long pauses, pushing back his hair and the bassist Bill Donaldson comes and sits on the floor, tuning his bass quietly. There's sort of a solemn moment as they all consider this apparent sore spot for the group.
"And that's not a bad thing, I mean these people are running a business, they're making big business decisions and one mess-up could really ruin their year," Long explains. "When people don't go and buy records, the [record companies] think, well people obviously don't like this band, or don't like this music because nobody went and bought it, so the next band that comes along that's like us and wants to make a raw, real, straightforward rock record really may not get the shot, because the [record company's] going to go, 'Remember? That No Address record flopped.' So they're either not going to sign that band, or they're going to force them to be like [some] other band."
Lauren says, "90 percent of our record label's success is in Country and Rap and R&B, because people still buy those records… a lot of rock fans are downloaders and it's changed rock if you think about it - if you listen to the radio."
"That's because from every indication that [the record companies] have, that's what they should be doing, adds Long.
"The [consumers] don't know about the amount of research that labels and radio stations do…songs get played and records get made when at least 60-70 percent of the research (who's buying what, what songs testing well) goes well. Like, they call a group of people and ask, 'Do you know who this band is? Do you like this song? Are you sick of this song?' And people don't know, because they listen to their iPods and it comes back and affects how much a song is played."
"Record companies go, 'Well, hell, 50 Cent is selling billions of units, but the new Staind record isn't, so we should invest more money into people like 50 Cent - even if the same amount of people have the Staind record downloaded, but 50 Cent's fans go out and buy the record."
There is some more sad silence. Long, looking truly imprisoned by this reality, shrugs and puts out his cigarette.
"I don't think people realize that that's the real situation," he says. "Everybody's gotten screwed, because you expect a level of quality in a product, and for a record to sound good, it costs money. It just does. It's not free."
So help your favorite musicians get the freedom to produce the kind of music that they want to create. Now you know exactly how it affects the artist, and you have a chance to actually change things for the better. Up-and-coming musicians especially need your support. Think about all they're giving you, and choose to give back.
www.americansuperstarmag.com/music/Feb06/No_Address_page1.php
Here is the text in case you want to read it here.
---------
Buy the Damn Album
Members of the band No Address speak out on the impact of downloading music illegally.
Story by Jessamyn Cuneo
American Superstar Mag,
February 2006
Fighting to claim a space in the record industry is a constant battle for musicians. As soon as the music exists, it belongs to anyone who wants it. No Address is a band that has had first-hand experience with this struggle. Alternative is one of the hardest genres to master in the music world, and this band can feel how slippery their footing is.
Millions of people have downloaded free music. We all have our various rationalizations when confronted with the fact that it's illegal: "But I only like one song," "I can't afford to buy every record I like," or how about, "CDs can get scratched, MP3s can't…" I'm sure you can hear your own excuse ringing in your ears right now.
Rolling Stone printed an article a few years ago, when file-sharing had just begun, exposing the fact that each $10 to $20 CD sold cost seven cents to make, and pennies of the sales actually go to the artist. This was my excuse to steal music for years, until I had a chance to sit down with the highly articulate and intelligent rock group No Address. They were able to explain to me what goes on behind record production and sales.
The truth is so important and interesting. Talking with guitarist Justin Long, and lead singer Ben Lauren, I discovered something that every music listener in the world should know.
Long slouches in a chair under bright florescent lights, his bleach-blonde hair hangs in his face, and he speeds through cigarettes while laying it all out. Lauren is sitting on a couch opposite from his band mate. He's wearing an oversize red hooded sweatshirt, and looks like he's someone's brother home from college for the holidays. He's got a sort of teddy-bear quality that makes him hard to picture in front of the mic, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Long begins by saying, "People think that music among all things on earth should be free. You suffer, and you spend all kinds of time and money, and you give up so much just to do it - and that's all you've done. It's not like you're trying to sell them a juicer that's not going to work…"
Lauren is nodding in agreement and says, "Say we go across country, and we can sell out show, after show, after show. That's great, but only 10,000 people have bought our CD. Someone puts it on the Internet, and a couple million have downloaded it. That hurts the record company, so the record company stops putting money into your band, so there is no [next] CD and people will never hear from you again.
"We don't have money to be on tour. We get money from the record company to be here. If you're not moving enough units to make the record company happy, they don't put you on tours like this, and you don't get out to new people…so these [fans] are actually shooting themselves in the foot."
Long agrees that this is where people are confused.
"Buying a CD is really like voting, I like this band and I like this kind of music," he says. "The example I always give - and you have no idea how literally true this is - is this: We were allowed to make our record the way we wanted to make it because Jet had done really well. And not that we sound like Jet, but we were making a "raw rock" record, like really rock, and the only way we got away with doing that was because Jet had been really successful doing that kind of thing.
"And we had all these conversations about Jet and every time somebody would be like, 'We think it needs to be blah blah blah,' we would be like, 'Well, what about Jet? Everybody's loving the f*ck outta Jet…' and the label went, 'Yeah, you're right, ok.' "
Long pauses, pushing back his hair and the bassist Bill Donaldson comes and sits on the floor, tuning his bass quietly. There's sort of a solemn moment as they all consider this apparent sore spot for the group.
"And that's not a bad thing, I mean these people are running a business, they're making big business decisions and one mess-up could really ruin their year," Long explains. "When people don't go and buy records, the [record companies] think, well people obviously don't like this band, or don't like this music because nobody went and bought it, so the next band that comes along that's like us and wants to make a raw, real, straightforward rock record really may not get the shot, because the [record company's] going to go, 'Remember? That No Address record flopped.' So they're either not going to sign that band, or they're going to force them to be like [some] other band."
Lauren says, "90 percent of our record label's success is in Country and Rap and R&B, because people still buy those records… a lot of rock fans are downloaders and it's changed rock if you think about it - if you listen to the radio."
"That's because from every indication that [the record companies] have, that's what they should be doing, adds Long.
"The [consumers] don't know about the amount of research that labels and radio stations do…songs get played and records get made when at least 60-70 percent of the research (who's buying what, what songs testing well) goes well. Like, they call a group of people and ask, 'Do you know who this band is? Do you like this song? Are you sick of this song?' And people don't know, because they listen to their iPods and it comes back and affects how much a song is played."
"Record companies go, 'Well, hell, 50 Cent is selling billions of units, but the new Staind record isn't, so we should invest more money into people like 50 Cent - even if the same amount of people have the Staind record downloaded, but 50 Cent's fans go out and buy the record."
There is some more sad silence. Long, looking truly imprisoned by this reality, shrugs and puts out his cigarette.
"I don't think people realize that that's the real situation," he says. "Everybody's gotten screwed, because you expect a level of quality in a product, and for a record to sound good, it costs money. It just does. It's not free."
So help your favorite musicians get the freedom to produce the kind of music that they want to create. Now you know exactly how it affects the artist, and you have a chance to actually change things for the better. Up-and-coming musicians especially need your support. Think about all they're giving you, and choose to give back.
