Time for a Windfall Profits Tax on Monopolistic Music Mega-Corps?

[humprof]

Yikes. I just discovered the "Music Business Worldwide" website and wish I hadn't. Lots of things in this pair of stories that will make you spit--not least the preening, the condescension, and the self-satisfied ball-swinging by my new favorite corporate villain bent on world domination, Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group. "[W]e are delivering a diverse and growing range of business and creative opportunities to our recording artists and songwriters." Uh-huh.
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide....ming-in-q3-as-overall-revenues-grew-13-3-yoy/https://www.musicbusinessworldwide....-streaming-platforms-tiktoks-future-and-more/

 

[4-earredwonder]

Yikes. I just discovered the "Music Business Worldwide" website and wish I hadn't. Lots of things in this pair of stories that will make you spit--not least the preening, the condescension, and the self-satisfied ball-swinging by my new favorite corporate villain bent on world domination, Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group. "[W]e are delivering a diverse and growing range of business and creative opportunities to our recording artists and songwriters." Uh-huh.
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide....ming-in-q3-as-overall-revenues-grew-13-3-yoy/https://www.musicbusinessworldwide....-streaming-platforms-tiktoks-future-and-more/

IMO, a further assault on us cretins who still value our LOSSLESS Physical discs! So they're poised to make billions ...... by 'renting' their lossy music to the unsuspecting...good for THEM ...but not US!

For years, we've spent our money on substandard CDs, scratchy vinyl and even LOSSY 5.1 surround mixes which may be fine for some ... but for the discerning audiophile...just more of the SAME.

I recently purchased a boatload of XRCD 24/32 bit remastered CDs at roughly 1/2 to 1/3 of their original list and was astounded how great the lowly 16b/44.1 can sound when properly mastered. And yet for years, all the majors have been giving us 'remastered' crapola in the form of compressed/loudness wars RBCDs which we dutifully purchased and REPURCHASED ad nauseum!

And have all those artists REALLY been fully compensated for their music during these windfall profits? Not if they don't have those overpaid 'creative' accountants/lawyers who reside on the payroll of all those mega music corporations!

There really is a LOT wrong with this picture so on my part I'll just continue searching the world wide net for physical media which meets my own private criteria.

If their sister companies in the Movie industry can release stunning UHD4K discs and price them as low as $7.99 which, IMO, requires a hell of a lot more work and money than music only discs, then I say to the unsuspecting public ... BUYER ... BE EVER MORE VIGILANT...as those gentle STREAMS can suddenly morph into perilous waterfalls for ourselves and for the artists as well!

 

[ar surround]

The Record Business...
Proudly screwing artists, engineers, and the public with impunity since Edison invented the phonograph in 1877.

 

[4-earredwonder]

The Record Business...
Proudly screwing artists, engineers, and the public with impunity since Edison invented the phonograph in 1877.

But at the very least, Edison did get the screw in light bulb right, eh, John?

 

[mandrix]

No love from him for the "DIY" (sic) artists , I see. Ay yi yi.
The company is "positioned well" to make money and drive prices up, just like every major corporation these days.

Greed has become the number 1 driving factor in large companies these days. "No bout a doubt it." IMHO.

 

[pat bateman]

Universal’s merch revenues grew by a whopping 101.1% YoY

I used to be on a lot of my favorite artists email lists, and chose to unsubscribe to a bunch because all they wanted to do was email about their newest T-Shirt. Or when I went to go buy their vinyl release in order to have a proper DR version of the album although that means I also had to buy a 1K turntable to rip to FLAC, only to find out the vinyl version is $80. I digress. And concert ticket prices - don't get me started. I digress.

I'll extend an olive branch, and acknowledge that without physical album sales and touring being tougher than ever , these bands have to figure out other ways to make $$, but damn.