Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand discussion

[Danyl Strype <strypey AT disintermedia.net.nz>]

Kia ora koutou

Just read this well-argued blog post by one Adam Drew on the
distinction between performance musicians and recording musicians,
which gave me pause to reconsider one of regular defences of CC for
music - restoring performance as a way for musicians to make a living
which cannot be digitall reproduced, or shared over BitTorrent:
http://www.linkedlistcorruption.com/?p=770#more-770

The post also contains some stats comparing sales of recordings to
concert tickets, and some interpretations of these which I don't agree
with.

For one thing, since most of those who buy a live show ticket also buy
a recording, per-unit figures are going to end up skewed towards
recordings. Secondly, it's only physically possible for a live music
act to perform a certain number of shows, to a certain number of
people. Theoretically, every person on the planet could buy a copy (or
a license ;) to one of their recordings, so it stands to reason that
more of these would tend to be sold. Finally, a live show generally
costs much more than a recording to produce, so prices per unit
(ticket/CD/download) are going to be higher. Even if it was physically
possible for every person on the planet to attend a live show, chances
are most of them would buy a recording instead because it's cheaper.

Despite what Drew suggests, it seems to me an apple-to-apples
comparison would actually use revenue figures, not per-unit figures. I
can get a legal copy of a Tool CD for around NZ$20, but to see Tool
play live I might pay anything from $80 to $140. So even with many
fewer tickets sold than CDs, Tool could (in theory) still earn more
from live shows.

Really, I don't think comparing live shows to recordings can be
apples-with-apples however you do it. One is an experience, the other
is a product. One is unique, the other is infinitely reproducible. One
is one-off and temporary, the other can be repeated over and over for
the rest of your life. They are just totally different things, which
is the part of Drew's blog I did agree with.

Hei kōnei rā
Strypey

-- 
Danyl Strype
Community Developer
Disintermedia.net.nz/strype

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