Well then, what would be an appropriate royalty for musicians and
> price for CDs? Well-known recording artists seem to be living quite > well.
Actually, most musicians make their money from concerts and maybe merchandising. "Few musicians ever actually receive royalties from their record sales on major labels", even including name bands like the Backstreet Boys (NYT article reprinted at
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), and individuals like Janis Ian, who said "in 37 years as a recording artist, I've created 25+ albums for major labels, and never once received a royalty check that didn't show I owed _them_ money" (
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) and David Byrne (
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).Royalties get paid on "profits", and the recording industry is as ingenious as Hollywood in creative accounting practices that ensure there never will be anything labelled a profit. The economics for a hypothetical successful band are described in an entertainment column:
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Of course, none of that is to say that the record companies aren't entitled to make some money. But it's misleading to suggest that shared music steals food from the tables of the creators of the music.(Sorry, stretch as I may, the only ObTelecom I can think of is "and the recording companies use _telephones_ in plotting their nefarious deeds" :-D )