Comments on: Fair Play? A Million Spotify Streams Earned Gaga $167

By: Mauritz

Mauritz — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:30:37 +0000

The problem with the model is that there is no incentive to be a singer or musician if one can’t earn money off of it. If i siad that computers should be free you’d call me crazy, simply because no one would produce computers if there was no money in computer manufacturing. The same concept applies for music, people won’t make music anymore!!

You have the audacity to speak of illegal downloads as if they are justifiable, they are inevitable when laws are not strict enough, granted, but that does not justify them as the alternative to sites like spotify.

We need to create another business model in which the artists can be paid, and perhaps the record labels are no longer in existence.

By: Stanley

Stanley — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:31:30 +0000

If what Lady GaGa does is trivial, why isn’t everyone else doing it? Why aren’t you doing it? Put another way, who else could have the million+ download reach? As with any product of labor, the compensation the creator receives is a function of supply and demand. Supply of vocal talent and music composing creativity is low, so a high return for those who can is very much deserved. To argue that we are “rewarding her with millions of dollars for a few hours in a recording studio” is nothing more than a failure to understand the most basic of economic principles.

The main issue is not whether Lady Gaga is deprived of her use of a song that you download. It’s you infringing on her rights to exploit her property and her work as she sees fit, whether that be by charging for each download, charging for unlimited play during a certain time period, charging for certain performances but not others, or not charging anything at all. Who do you think you are to make that decision for her, by copying music without pay?

By: josh

josh — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:27:36 +0000

Artist make like 10 cents per a dowload, the rest goes to site and the studio

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:43:33 +0000

I wonder how Grooveshark reimburses? I don’t listen to Spotify since they love to throw in those ads in the middle of my music. At least at icloud you can have a Grooveshark audio adfree account.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:33:24 +0000

How do you figure, Milos? Stealing is typically defined as depriving someone of his rightful property. An .mp3 has no physical existence–it’s a set of complicated instructions to a program capable of decoding them. If you or I send someone a copy of an .mp3, we’re merely having our computer send their computer instructions to reproduce the music. It’s an intellectual construct and has no physical existence, unlike a CD or an LP (or a hard drive.) If Lady Gaga ever downloaded “Poker Face”, my downloading it (legally or otherwise) is unlikely to deprive her of its use. To paraphrase the Wife of Bath, is the light from a candle any less dim when it is shared?
Moreover, should what Lady Gaga does really be considered “work”? Should our society reward her with millions of dollars for a few hours in a recording studio? Is her material so irreproducable? Performing is real work for musicians, and unlike an .mp3 or CD (or whatever), the experience of seeing live music cannot be duplicated or “stolen”. That’s the service a musician performs, and should be that musician’s primary moneymaker. Really, it’s the only model that makes any sense.

By: Milos

Milos — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:46:08 +0000

It’s really not fair… She is great talent and she deserves to earn money on her own work…It’s not fair to people steal music from artists… getting music for free, that’s stealing, because it’s someone’s work

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:01:07 +0000

It's Just Dance. NOT Lets Dance

By: binarylife

binarylife — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:49:44 +0000

wait… how much would a million of illegal downloads make her?
right or wrong, in real life, that is the alternative.

emerging acts. yeh, apparently some time ago they used to make their money by playing gigs. which i have seen people pay for…if they were any good.