What portion of major record label gross income goes to pay artists and how much does the average American spend on music each year? A few years ago I heard that (1) the major record companies paid 4% of their income to the musicians, and that (2) the average American spent $20 a year on music. I've tried and failed to find these figures again. The first seems especially difficult to find (or maybe I'm just being dumb). There is plenty of information about what the average contract gives to the artist, but I'm not interested in that -- I'm looking for aggregated figures. Help? [more inside]
posted by johnsu01 on Jul 9, 2008 - 9 answers

It appears my sister is being sued by the RIAA. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jan 11, 2008 - 32 answers

Help me make sure that my money gets to Handsome Dick Manitoba: downloading vs buying music, and how to find out if an artist actually gets money from their own album sales? [more inside]
posted by intermod on May 22, 2007 - 32 answers

I own a copy of Tres Hombres by ZZ Top. I'd like to get it into mp3 format so that I can listen to it in the car, etc. The problem is that the copy I own is on a record. Assuming I download with bittorrent, and then the RIAA comes after me, can I use the defense that I actually already owned it, so downloading could not be considered criminal? Would it be different if I owned a record rather than a CD? In other words, can you legally download the mp3 of an album you already own?
posted by joecacti on Aug 14, 2006 - 16 answers

Can ASCAP/BMI sue you or levy fees for original music not in their catalog? [more inside]
posted by loquacious on Jul 12, 2006 - 7 answers

Is this music download site legit? [more inside]
posted by a_day_late on Feb 14, 2006 - 17 answers

(RIAA-filter) Concerning downloading copyrighted material, is the act of downloading illegal, or just possesion? If you download a song and delete it, are you stil culpable? Of what offense? And is intent a factor?
posted by Edible Energy on Feb 12, 2005 - 18 answers