[whiddershins]

downvote me all you guys want. People in the tech community consistently conflate performing artists (bands and stars you recognize) with composers (songwriters, the people creating the intellectual property, and who are most screwed by the modern economy)

a song isn't an advertisement for ANYTHING for the songwriter. It is the entirety of the songwriter's creation. The songwriter does not make a living from t-shirts, ticket sales, endorsements, or hosting a reality TV show.

http://blog.startmysong.com/2010/01/02/songwriting-how-much-...

[belorn]

I downvoted you, because your reply do not include a source that supports the claim that an entire generations of songwriters made their living from radio royalties.

The linked blog do nothing of the sort. It simply state that song writers get in average an $800,000 for radio and TV for a "hit song".

It doesn't say how much is TV vs radio. It doesn't say what a hit song mean, or how many CD's such song will in average sell. It doesn't say what the average number of songs of a singular author is in such CD. It doesn't say what the average income from digital downloads are from producing such hit song, or how it effect sales from the authors other works.

And worst of... Its a blog without any source for its data, and has a disclaimer at the bottom that says: ... the information is the opinion of the author only.

[whiddershins]

It is really hard for me to realize how ignorant of the music industry tech people are. Maybe that's because you guys seem delighted to pontificate all day long, without mentioning you have no clue whatsoever how any of it works.

I didn't realize I need a citation to explain what is obvious to any music industry professional: performance royalties from radio play are a major source of revenue for songwriters of hit songs.

If the passle of you want to wave your opinions around for decades while literally enabling and rationalizing the destruction of an industry through targeted technology (napster, for example, originally ONLY supported mp3s) maybe you should do your own research and educate yourself, and not expect me to footnote every assertion.

Otherwise, just admit you want everyone else's IP for free and stop making up justifications.

[baddox]

But they make money when the music is sold, which is what Semaphor said.

[smsm42]

Where the $800K for radio/TV performances figure came from?