Bands live and die on the road depending on merch sales. Especially if you’re opener getting a tiny guarantee per show. You NEED great merch along with a great merch seller at each show. Someone in the merch table when doors available to when they close. But, obviously, you will need a fan base first. Don’t go buying thousands in merch inventory if you are only bringing 40 people locally.
The argument that ReDigi posed was that Rage Against The Machine tour dates there is no difference between the things they were doing along with a person selling their old CDs, that is legal under the first-sale doctrine. The court pushed back, praoclaiming that since ReDigi’s business model required the duplication of the MP3, it had been still considered copyright infringement.
I am an indie band and we self-release our albums. We have released 7 albums in the past 12 years. the first 5 albums were released on CD only. the very last 2 albums (since 2012) have ONLY BEEN RELEASED ON VINYL. That s all we manufacture now, not because vinyl is trendy but because CD s are redundant. Vinyl albums would be the only relevant physical medium left for delivering music, otherwise, just download it.
What is the good to be in 600 digital stores (or a million), should you aren t getting paid on your downloads and streams? Keep in mind, about to catch just paying mondotunes (or any of the digital distribution companies) to get your songs through to iTunes, Amazon, etc you’re also paying to get them collect your royalties in your case (unless you happen to be just performing it to give your parents something to brag to their friends about).
Veoh was buried long ago, but its DMCA-riddled ghost has become haunting Universal Music Group and the broader music, film, and content industries. In a reaffirming ruling just issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, an early on, District Court decision heavily favoring Veoh was upheld and supported. The Ninth Circuit concurred that Veoh was playing within the bounds of DMCA protections, despite rather obvious knowledge of infringing activity. The decision could have huge implications for DMCA-related cases ahead, including UMG’s ongoing war with Grooveshark (if they can, unlike Veoh, survive the procedure).