AP Wire | 08/19/2006 | Online music holdouts give in as iTunes popularity surges
This article is mostly about acts finially going to some form of online distribution, but some of the reasons they give for staying away are pretty lame.
But the artists argue online distribution leaves them with too small a profit.
I get about $.57 per song sold on iTunes, and that is after I give a cut to a distributor. There is much less overhead because there are no physical product manufacturing costs. If the artists are getting shafted on iTunes sales, the problem is with their label, not the format.
Others have avoided the Internet altogether out of piracy concerns. (Most online stories, however, use rights-management technology to protect against unauthorized distribution.)
They say this like it is harder to pirate something that came on a CD than it is to pirate something bought online. Are they really that stupid, or do they think we are?
I think the key to fighting piracy is to treat your customers with respect, and give them quality product at reasonable prices.