Radio PSAs (Public Service Announcements)

According to the major record labels, everyone who downloads a song off the internet is a thief. But there's a lot they aren't telling you.

For example:

Did you know that when you buy a major label CD virtually none of your money makes it to the musician? It's true: When you pay $15 for a CD, the artist royalty is about 75 cents.

But most major label artists don't even get that--musicians don't get any royalties until they pay back all the costs of recording and promotion. That means they don't get anything until they sell at least 500,000 or a million CDs! Here's another way to look at it: for most CDs at the record store, NONE of the money goes to the musician.

So when the major label CEOs tell you that sharing music is "stealing from musicians", they're

A) Lying through their teeth

and

B) Hypocrites

The real thieves are the corporate record labels, and giving them your money just perpetuates a system where musicians get screwed and independent music gets locked out of the mainstream.

The best part of all this is that--thanks to filesharing--the corporate record companies are dying off, while independent labels are thriving. Musicians, radio DJs, everybody. We finally have a chance to change the music business.

Don't buy major label CDs. Support independent musicians. Take back music.

DOWNHILLBATTLE.ORG

The major record labels say that downloading their music from the internet is stealing.

But according to these people, making a mixtape for your friend is stealing too. So is making a tape of a radio show. When a rock band plays an AC/DC cover at a bar that doesn't pay ASCAP that's stealing. When an MC rhymes over a sampled beat, that's stealing.

Have you ever sung "happy birthday" to your friend at a restaurant? Watch out! Happy Birthday is copyrighted, so if you're singing in a public place you'd better be paying royalties-- or you'll be "stealing music".

Does all this stuff about "stealing music" sound absurd? Would you rather have a world where our music culture wasn't the intellectual property of 5 corporations? Then stop giving them your money! Don't pay for major label music, and make sure your friends and family don't either. Even better, burn them CDs of the music they like, so they won't even want to buy it.

If we pull the plug on the major labels, music gets better. To find out more about what you can do, check out Downhill Battle .org

Corporate record executives want to talk about the ethics of music filesharing. But maybe it's time to talk about the ethics of paying for CDs put out by the big five labels.

When you pay for a CD from Sony, BMG, EMI, Warner, Universal, or any of their sub-labels, you're supporting an industry that buys off radio stations, exploits musicians, manipulates artists and recordings, and sues music fans. But refusing to pay for major label music isn't just a moral statement- it's real political action.

The corporate labels have a monopoly on music sales in the US, but they're losing ground fast. Their sales are down by 30% in the last three years alone. If we simply stop buying their product, we can get rid of the major labels once a for all- and this can happen soon.

When it does, we'll be left with better music, better radio, and a fairer music business.

So, support independent music and tell your mom and tell your little brother not to pay into the corporate system- Maybe you can burn them a copy of what they want in the mean time.

For more about why now is the time to take back music, visit DownhillBattle.org .