From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!woods Newsgroups: net.music Title: Re: tape tax Article-I.D.: hao.440 Posted: Fri Feb 18 11:12:41 1983 Received: Sun Feb 20 03:59:38 1983 References: nmtvax.192 The problem with a "tape tax" is simply that there are a lot of other uses for blank recording tape besides copying copyrighted material. Musicians use it to record themselves, people actually even record things besides music (God forbid!). It isn't really fair to ask everyone to pay for those who use the tapes to copy records. The best solution to sagging record sales is to make the price reasonable. I stopped buying albums when the price passed $7 apiece. I think it's outrageous. Concert tickets average around $15 these days as well. Maybe all the superstars will have to switch from Rolls Royces to Cadillacs for a while (breaks my heart :-) ). I realize that the non-superstar artists suffer more than the superstars. I think what we are seeing here is more people want to be musicians than the market will support, which accounts for the troubles of the "non-mainstream" artists a lot more than taping records, and the superstars are WAY overpaid. I love the Stones, but $20 to see Mick Jagger prance around for maybe 90 minutes is a blatant rip-off. Those of you who have sent me mail asking why I like the Dead so much, here's one reason. They usually play for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Most bands, however, don't even give you 2 hours for your twenty bucks. Cut down on the number of artists and lower the price of records. I'd much rather have the album with cover and associated artistry than a blank cassette with my hadwriting on the outside any day, but my principles take over when the price is up around $8.50 to $12 a record, I'll buy a blank tape for $2.50 (or even $3 if they imposed a tape tax!) over paying a ridiculous price for a record. GREG ucbvax!hplabs!hao!woods menlo70!hao!woods harpo!seismo!hao!woods decvax!brl-bmd!hao!woods