Is the Irish Music Industry unethical/immoral to independent artists? (1 Viewer)

[Cormcolash]

So the diminishing money artists make off records sales will be diminished even more so that government approved bands can make a few euro a week?

So charging 10% more means taking money away from artists?

 

[Cormcolash]

The Arts council budget is €56M for 2014.

A lot of which gets spent on complete and total shite

 

[washingcattle]

A lot of which gets spent on complete and total shite

Thank you. Someone gets it.

 

[Cormcolash]

Hey it's cool. If you're on one of the Arts Council boards, then you can award yourself money.

 

[GARYXKNIFEDX]

I don't think anyone here has referred to music as a viable "career" but to use the example someone else made of music being a cottage industry. Cottage industries make money. No one is making ice cream in their kitchen and then giving it away for free at the farmers market.

6th word I quoted from the article.

The other point about it being 10 years or so ago,can't say I've noticed any change in that opinion ,but,I don't really pay attention to the music industry for the most part.

Mind you,maybe the people who think it's great that the music industry is a mess are those people who use fundit/pledge type things.

 

[MilanPan!c]

A lot of which gets spent on complete and total shite

Of course it does... but that's not equivalent to saying it should lose control of how it spends money/it should spend 20% of it's money on slightly different shit. Most original bands suck... there's no moral imperative to fund crappy art.

 

[MilanPan!c]

So charging 10% more means taking money away from artists?

If you think for a minute that labels will simply eat the new cost so that artists don't have to suffer a little, you don't know most big labels. They'll simply pass on the cost to the artists... and still the biggest releases will be sold along the x.99 price scheme... any new costs to fund joe soap's original band down at the local pub, that's attached to selling music, will fall on the shoulders of the artists.

 

[GARYXKNIFEDX]

The only opinion I'm interested in with this thread in mind is that of Wingnut Records.

 

[MilanPan!c]

There you go again,

You've assumed a government employee would be responsible.

And what would make it a random action?
I imagine there could be combined ways of doing it, continually. That's not random.

Why is it a minority of musicians?
From my perspective it's actually a majority thAt are being shafted.

So yes, assuming the worst possible outcome.
it just seems to me that you've taken a very conservative stance by just shunning all logic or suggestion of it. Because 'it's stupid'.

Heavens forbid a system could provide a platform enabling musicians to be more successful abroad and potentially bring back Money to spend in this country. This allowing the process to eventually contribute towards itself. Or you know, ANYTHING better

Someone being paid by the government would obviously be responsible. A government employee. Random as music quality can't be definitively judged by some sort of measurable criteria. Unless you're suggesting that popular bands get government money, no matter their "artistic value"...?

It's a minority, because the majority of musicians aren't demanding the government give them 20€ every other month... a few are, out of the thousands in Ireland.

As for the notion that this pittance of money will do all these magical things like allowing musicians to be more successful abroad well... again I say, where's that money coming from? Taxes? Stripping other artists of money?

 

[ernesto]

Someone being paid by the government would obviously be responsible. A government employee. Random as music quality can't be definitively judged by some sort of measurable criteria. Unless you're suggesting that popular bands get government money, no matter their "artistic value"...?

It's a minority, because the majority of musicians aren't demanding the government give them 20€ every other month... a few are, out of the thousands in Ireland.

As for the notion that this pittance of money will do all these magical things like allowing musicians to be more successful abroad well... again I say, where's that money coming from? Taxes? Stripping other artists of money?

This is like talking to a brick wall. I'm done wasting my time. Good luck to yiz

 

[nooleen]

This is like talking to a brick wall. I'm done wasting my time. Good luck to yiz

you probably think brick walls should be funded out of the taxpayer's battered, bleeding pocket too, you feckless trotskyite

 

[egg_]

Not paying bands at festivals - that's what this is about, isn't it? Can anyone here think of a way that has worked in the past that workers who felt like they were being exploited managed to change things? I can think of exactly one - unions. Can't see bands whose biggest show is Whelan's on a Thursday night forming a union, there's just not enough at stake. How much are they likely to gain by forcing festivals to pay them for a handful of half hour slots? A few hundred quid a year? Can't see anyone doing a big pile of union organisin in return for that, not when they already have a band and (most likely) a job to keep them occupied

 

[shower another shower]

Here, my post when I said this thread is going to shit... too many likes and winners.
If ye go book a gig, don't expect to get paid unless you can generate revenue yourselves....
If a promoter rings you and wants you to play, don't play it unless you're happy with the dosh.

Get yourself into a position where people are ringing you to play. Ye mightn't be shite at all, but just not financially feasible.
And if ye aren't finacially feasible, you're doing it for the art and not to get paid.
Nobody(band) should expect to get paid just because they think they're contributing to culture/art.
Spend more time on marketing yourselves and stop complaining if ye wanna get paid.
And fuck all of ye that play for free when everyone else is getting paid. I'd have my head kicked in if I were driving a dumper for nothing, when it it takes skill and deserve a wage.

 

[shower another shower]

almost every band I've played in in Ireland has this victimisation complex where they feel like the scene owes them something.
Pull your fingers out, get on with it, and be happy with your lot, ffs.

 

[shower another shower]

or don't be happy with your lot and move yourselves forward. Ain't nobody gonna do it for you. Promoters, agents, venues or governments.
be clever.

 

[shower another shower]

It's the reason I'll never play in a band here again.
No gumption.

 

[nooleen]

if a band can't exist exist without gumption, then a band shouln't exist

 

[shower another shower]

I prefer listening to country bands these days, in my local, who have their shit together.

 

[shower another shower]

if a band can't exist exist without gumption, then a band shouln't exist

gumption does not equal wonga.
Gumption is more, "YES WE CAN", thanks Obama.

 

[Cormcolash]

If you think for a minute that labels will simply eat the new cost so that artists don't have to suffer a little, you don't know most big labels. They'll simply pass on the cost to the artists... and still the biggest releases will be sold along the x.99 price scheme... any new costs to fund joe soap's original band down at the local pub, that's attached to selling music, will fall on the shoulders of the artists.

What are you talking about?

I'm saying stick 10%, or 20%, onto music sales. That's like a VAT charge. The money goes straight to a body that will distribute it to local musicians, such as the inept Arts Council. Nobody pays more except the buyer. It doesn't suddenly cost more to produce music. It doesn't cost more to write the music. It doesn't cost more to press a record. It doesn't cost more to upload a track. It doesn't cost more to advertise. It doesn't cost more to put in a shop.
All it means is that any music purchased in Ireland costs 10-20% more than it currently does to buy. And the result is to raise x amount of money that can be given to Irish musicians doing original stuff. Maybe the money could be specifically earmarked to fund festivals, allowing bands to be paid at them.

How you interpret that as a cost that a label will have to absorb is beyond me.