Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

--- In CZsynth@yahoogroups.com, "synergeezer" <synergeezer@...> wrote:
>
> Ain't it great live in a post-ethical society!  I wish I could join
> you there.  Where can I go to steal your products?
> 

Pretty much any of the sites CDbaby allows to exploit my recorded 
output.  It's weird, they encode your CD and send mp3s to dozens of 
different mp3 vendors, some of which turn around and give the mp3s 
away, and some of which sell them for a dollar or so.  For some 
reason, even though they're available for free on some sites, people 
still buy them for a dollar from others.  

Incidentally, I've never had an ethical problem downloading mp3s, and 
I was a very early adopter.  I was a little concerned about the 
artists livelihood at first, but I've been downloading mp3s for over 
10 years now and recording artists seem to be making more money than 
ever, including myself (though a 100% increase in almost nothing 
still isn't much).  Those mp3 sites CDBaby seeds have provided me 
with the bulk of my CDBaby earnings, rather than the CDs that CDBaby 
sells for me.  Although, almost all of that revenue has come from a 
single song I titled 'StunnaShades' because I've been wearing big 
chunky ridiculous sunglasses since long before the Oakland 'hyphy' 
movement popularized them.  Anyway, now I get over 1000% more 
downloads for that song than any other, probably because people are 
expecting a rap song, which they don't get, but by then it's too late!

Anyway, like I said I have no qualms about downloading mp3s, and 
never have.  I think the main reason for that is because any mp3 I 
want will be from some artist who is fairly Big, and is already 
making scads of money as a hot new trend.  Any sad-sack act that 
isn't a hot new trend can't give their mp3s or 'demos' away fast 
enough.  The CD shelves of those thrift stores I mentioned are filled 
with CDs put out by local nobodies that nobody buys, and I suspect 
every thrift store in North America is filled with similar local 
fodder.  Anyone who really 'cares about supporting music' would be 
buying those up, or better yet, buying them before they wind up in 
the thrift store.  But they suck, and that's why nobody cares.

Now, here's a case in point about a band that is currently considered 
hot and trendy:  A few days ago I was watching Tom Green's talk show 
and his musical guest was Leslie and the Lys.  I liked their 
performance so I searched Google for their product.  Turns out they 
had released a few albums through CDBaby.  But the CDBaby pages 
representing those albums only had the mp3s for sale, not the 
original CDs.  You see, the band had become so hot and trendy, the 
early birds got all the worms.  Those CDs are now collectors items, 
and worth a lot more than those people paid for them.  So, you want 
to support music?  Scour CDBaby for new stuff that totally rocks, 
that you're sure will be the next big thing, and buy their CD.  Not 
only will you be injecting cash into the bank accounts of artists who 
not only need it the most, and also deserve it the most, you'll be 
investing in an item that you may be able to resell at a later date 
for several times what you paid for it.  How many people do you think 
actually do that?  Not many, and even fewer who bother maintaining an 
obsolete notion of morality regarding mp3 files.  

I would've bought one of those Leslie and the Lys CDs from CDbaby, 
but I was too late.  And that's not the only out-of-print album from 
CDbaby I've wanted to buy.  I wanted Spookey Rueben's CDbaby albums 
too, but they're all sold out, too.  See the pattern developing 
here?  If you're some cool underground artist people actually like, 
you will have no problem selling your product, and those smart and 
savvy enough to buy it (even if they only plan on flipping it on Ebay 
next year) will have no problem shelling out for it, either.   

Fact is, if my music were good enough, I'd be selling out my CDs on 
CDBaby.  So rather than whine about nobody giving me a 'big break', I 
decided to keep working on making my music better, so that someday it 
will be worth buying.