Who here knows it is illegal to..

[famousringo]

Desroko said:

famousringo said:

So many people here concerned about the artists. Fact is, most artists earn crap money off of CD sales. They make their bucks at live concerts. If you really love that band, don't buy their CD at the record store, go to the show and buy the CD at the merch table. You'll experience real talent (or perhaps lack thereof :P) and give them some real support.

This is actually the exact opposite experience of most of the bands I know, who are almost all unsigned or signed to small labels. The venues they play and the gate they charge is far too small to bring in much income. They make most of their money from CD and online sales. 

 A slice of text from The Economist:

Seven years ago musicians derived two-thirds of their income, via record labels, from pre-recorded music, with the other one-third coming from concert tours, merchandise and endorsements, according to the Music Managers Forum, a trade group in London. But today those proportions have been reversed—cutting the labels off from the industry's biggest and fastest-growing sources of revenue. Concert-ticket sales in North America alone increased from $1.7 billion in 2000 to over $3.1 billion last year, according to Pollstar, a trade magazine.

Now, I'm not trying to necessarily say that you're wrong. I would suggest that the main reason why the bands you know make more money off of CDs and online sales is because they have a better deal with their self-publication or small label than they would get with a major label. They probably get a bigger slice than the dollar or so per CD that artists on major labels get, and probably can't charge as much for a show as a more famous artist on a major label can. Different markets just have different business plans, I guess.