July/August 2000 | see responses to this editorial below:
Mp3? Oh no, forget it!
Yeah, exactly. That's what they tell us. Mp3 is illegal - and we must avoid it. OK - so please tell us how to ignore this revolution. People online have already made their choice - they want downloadable music, easy and fast. So it's up to you, dear record company executives, to be in front of this revolution and make music available for us. For free or not. Be there, today and tomorrow, and I'm sure we'll pay for the music you offer - the music we love.

You know - we're quite used to it.

Any comments?

And there were some responses this summer...

Subject: MP3
Date: søndag 9. juli 2000 05:46
From: Eric Higgins <indadark@swbell.net>
To: <genesis-path@mailbox.as>

Thomas,

MP3 has become one of the greatest things to happen to music. I'm really sick of one hit wonders. You hear a song on the radio then you waste $15 on a CD only to find the only good song on the whole thing was the one that's being overplayed on the radio. So now I can get that one song without having to pay for a whole CD of worthless songs. It might make some of these "musicians" actually try to make a whole CD's worth of listenable music(esp since the Genesis world seems to be on hold I need to find new things). MP3 allows you to preview more than just the one song. If I can preview a few songs from an artist's CD by downloading some MP3s and they are good then I'll by the CD because I like cover art, and having the words to the songs is good to, However you can get most of those on the web now.

One of the greastest things about MP3 is now you get rare stuff, remixes, live, and B-sides. Which I don't see how anyone in the recording industry can gripe about since most of the recordings of that nature are out of print anyway. It's the only way you can get some of these things. If they aren't going to make it anymore how else am I supposed to get it? I'd gladly pay for a CD of Genesis B-sides from the 80's, but you can't go to the record store and find that. You'd be lucky to find the original 45's at a record convention.

Eric.

Subject: An answer to your MP3 question.
Date: mandag 10. juli 2000 18:09
From: AMMON, RAY <SMD40004@allstate.com>
To: "'genesis-path@mailbox.as'" <genesis-path@mailbox.as>

I have been out of the music business for several years now but this was a
record company "problem" before I left. In a nutshell the artists get
royalties from sales and spins. When you download a song the artist does not
get paid. In other words its like a bootleg. The various labels hold the
licensees to distribute each acts product. Legally, the label and only the
label has the right to distribute an acts music. This is a very involved and
ugly topic. I can see both sides but you have to understand that unless a
band makes an arrangement of some kind with the public and their record
company i.e. click on to AOL this Monday night at 7:30 and download a free
copy of our new single, they expect to be paid. I'm sure we are all
concerned with our favorite band, Genesis. I worked for WEA/Atlantic for
many years, I know how the game is played. You make a record, the company
puts up marketing and promotional dollars, distribution dollars. The record
sells you are in fat city everybody is happy if it doesn't show some signs
of life after the first single the company will usually back away from the
project.. For instance in the case of CAS the record did not get the sales
the label expected and they pulled back on the promo/marketing after the
first single. It's a real shame because I thought the record was great and
should have done much better. MP3 is a wonderful concept.....but look for
the record companies to get their piece of the pie for the artists and to
cover their costs. Perhaps the companies/artists should consider using MP3
as a promotional-advertising tool. Allow us to download for free special/non
LP cuts for free. There are thousands of possibilities, lets hope that the
brilliant (ha ha) minds that run the record companies don't just look at
making money and will be creative. Thankyou again for your wonderful web
site.

Best regards!
Pat Purcell