USA Today Kolumne zu Kopieren und Musikindustrie

Kevin Maney schreibt in seiner Technology-Kolumne auf USA TODAY über den chinesischen und US-amerikanischen Musikmarkt: If pirating grows, it may not be the end of music world. Er kommt zu dem Urteil, dass das Kopieren von Musik Künstlern nicht so schadet, wie oftmals in Medien kommuniziert, und neue Wege gefunden werden müssen, um einen gerechten Ausgleich zwischen Künstlern und Verbrauchern zu finden.

That would be nice for consumers and really bad for record companies and retailers. But the biggest concern is that this will be terrible for artists. If artists can’t earn money, economic logic says they might stop making music, which would be a major loss for society.

But is that equation true? While visiting USA TODAY last week, Roger McGuinn, who led the Byrds in the 1960s, said he earned just 0.0007 cents on each early Byrds album sold. He adds that although Arista Records sold 500,000 of his solo album, Back From Rio, McGuinn never got a penny. In other words, thanks to the machinations of the recording industry, McGuinn has never made any real money on even his most popular recorded music.