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Mariah Carey is fuming at the short-sighted, small-minded record execs who failed to harness the potential of the internet for downloading music. She cited artists like Prince, who sold his music online long before anyone else. Mariah flat-out called them idiots and stupid (though at least she didn’t name names) and pointed out that they’re supposed to be intelligent, powerful people. Instead they proved they’re hardly innovative.
MARIAH CAREY has blamed music industry bosses for failing to spot the internet download trend - accusing record labels of letting their artists down by allowing illegal file-sharing to become commonplace.
Carey is adamant label bosses should have realised the potential of the internet a long time before illicit song swapping became prevalent, and she’s furious because the practise means many musicians lose out on precious royalty money.
The Hero hitmaker insists that although record labels are slowly beginning to grasp the potential of the internet, they will never be able to repair the damage done by illegal downloads, because many consumers now feel entitled to get their music for free.
She says, “Frickin’ idiots! A lot of big, powerful music industry executives made a giant mistake and now we’re all paying the price. They gave the music business away on the internet. If they had just sat back and said, ‘Maybe let’s figure this internet thing out, it could be something cool,’ we could have found a way to distribute music online on our own terms, not somebody else’s.
“Prince had already shown them the way. He was so far ahead of the curve, putting his records out on the web. Everyone else was stupid.”
[From Contact Music]
I don’t blame any musician for being pissed that their music is being given away for free. I don’t think the solution is to alienate their fans – remember when Metallica sued the fans who downloaded their music? But musicians work hard on creating their songs. No matter how much money they do or don’t have, it’s their work product and the deserve to be compensated.
Though the RIAA spent a great many years suing the pants off people who shared music for free, it hasn’t helped artists, who now have a serious problem selling music. If the record companies had created a large, legitimate venue for music downloads before – or even right after – Napster and other file-swapping programs became a hit, they could have saved their profits. But now that people have gotten in the habit of downloading music for free, it’s hard to change that mindset. iTunes helped out a lot, but it still took several years from the time file swapping software came out until iTunes had a good collection of music to buy.
All that said, Mariah’s doing alright. She’s super successful so it’s not like she’s hurting. I can’t help but wonder what her goal is with all this. It’s a fair point, but it’s something people were saying a long time ago. I wouldn’t think that randomly pissing off record industry bigwigs would help her out any. I completely see her point, I’m just wondering why.
Here’s Mariah arriving at her London hotel yesterday. Images thanks to Fame Pictures .
Written by JayBird
Posted in Mariah Carey, Music
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16 Responses to “Mariah Carey calls music execs “idiots” for failing to take advantage of Internet”
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It’s the very first time that Mariah Carey has said anything remotely intelligent, even if she has done so with the vocabulary of a ten-year-old.
That said, the problem of illegal file sharing isn’t so much the fact that, before iTunes, there weren’t many venues through which music could be legally purchased on the internet, but the sheer greed of record companies, who offer awfully low quality products at exorbitant prices.
For instance, they practically don’t have to pay much for the hosting of a song in a server and yet, they keep pricing them as if they had to include the cost of publishing, packaging and transport in it. These songs are ridiculously overpriced and, while not agreeing (after all, I enjoy music and I’d like artists to be able to continue producing it), I understand how many people would not want to pay the asking price.
Finally, there is the issue of (bad) quality. Most singers release one half-decent song along 11 heaps of rubbish. How can the expect their public to be faithful to them, when the product they offer is substandard?
I think that greater emphasis on quality and cheaper prices would be the best solution to this problem but, then again, I am not in the record industry, so I don’t know how things work, or could they could be changed.
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I agree musicians should get paid for their product, but as it is now even with illegal downloading they are ridiculously OVERpaid. There is no need for any kind of singer to make millions and millions of dollars a year.
I illegally download music with a clean conscience. If I really like an artist I will buy the album anyway, especially if it is a relatively unknown artist, and I will go see them in concert wich is where they make the real money.
That being said, MC is right. Music executives were stupid not to have seen this coming.
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Maybe this is her way of saying “See? My record sales suck arse because you guys are all so stupid!”
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Pack it up, old guard!
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in my 1st post of the day I defended Papa LoLo, 2nd I’m agreeing with Ms. Carey
I’m going back to bed!darn it
ETA
1st defended Miley
then Papa SoLo then agreed w/ Mariah. not good
This Thanskgiving blend is making me all soft and sappy.
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Agreed, Pont Neuf. If it’s worth a darn, I’ll buy the album, but only after a test drive.
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The same Prince, who borrowed Radiohead’s Creep and then blocked the videos on Youtube due to his copyright? Well well well, stealing music and trying to sell it to people…
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They put too much garbage out. I have all sorts of classical, from Chinese to stuff I never would have heard of otherwise. Plus Disney stuff, the old stuff and I am NOT going to order a special copy of the soundtrack of a specific movie. Plus movies, to hell with paying that much for a movie. The only way Im’ going to buy a movie is if I like it enough and won’t be bored within days of having bought it.
Again, if not for downloading I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy a ton of stuff I otherwise would never have known about. If they shoved less filth at me, I wouldn’t be downloading as much.
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mariah seems like a pretty shrewd businesswoman, so i am not that surprised by her statement. and i think she’s right. *sigh* i can’t believe i am agreeing with moo-moo!
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You know, I find it odd that Mariah dresses badly, but her makeup is usually flawless…
She is obviously a shrewd business woman, you aren’t worth as much as she is by being an idiot that only cares for butterflies and glitter lol. -
Don’t you think that selfish snobs like Mariah have enough money already…complaining about wanting more..such a greedy little twat!
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I really admire Mariah Carey’s talent but I don’t believe her assessment of record executives is fair. Record companies are usually only a part of much larger entertainment conglomerates. Within the last 10 to 15 years, several of these conglomerates have merged or changed ownership and these ventures have not always worked out to the advantage of record companies. In order for record executives to keep their jobs, they had to optimize the revenue drivers they understood the best, talent and marketing.
For many of them, technology was perhaps the most useful in streamlining music production and reducing costs. With the introduction of the compact disc (CD); record companies were able to reap more profits from their vast libraries of master recordings without incurring significant costs. It was much easier for them to get their heads around this concept because this was something tangible they could control; whereas, the Internet is more complicated. Truthfully, unless you’re actively involved in developing digital technologies or establishing standards for their usage, the record companies are racing to keep with these innovations just like the rest of us.
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Why do people - including women - get so angry at women for just having an opinion? She didn’t say she wanted more money. She was defending ALL artists, including those less successful than she is. I don’t understand all of the hostility towards her on this site. If you don’t like her music, don’t listen to it. But the fact of the matter is that she has one of the longest vocal ranges in the history of popular music. It’s just a fact.
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Well listen the simple fact of the matter is that greedy snooby mariah probably wanted to buy another rolls royce and thought…damn..why didn’t I get more sales of my crappy album…so decided to take a stab against her bosses..she sounds like a dying cat when she sings..
and she sucks..and for that i hope people continue to download her crappy songs instead of paying to hear that crap -
She’s got a point.
I think it’s also a bunch of crap, how overpriced music is now. I’m not paying 18 dollars for a 12 song album of which I will only listen to 1 song.
I do however do my best to support the musicians I love however I can.
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Maybe it’s a veiled jab at Tommy Mottola?
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