MP3.com's Next Giant Step To Rip Artists Off

[Sui]

MP3.com's latest payback for playback policy left me pretty miffed. Before their system wasn't very comparable to BMI/ASCAP but now it's not even close. Worse they expect you to pay $19.99 a month just to get paid this assinine rate of a half-cent per play. Basically this equates to you have to get roughly 14 playbacks just to get the BMI standard for one playback. Total BS if you ask me. Here is the new policy they have: [quote]on October 1, 2001, we are modifying the promotion the following way: * ONE FLAT RATE We will pay Premium Artists one-half cent per song play. Lo Fi streams, Hi Fi streams and downloads all count the same. Even though a listener may play your song several times during a day, only one play will count toward P4P. The one-half cent payment rate applies to plays in all sections of our site, including PLuS Express, My.MP3, Stations, Featured Charts, and Top 40 Charts. We believe this payment system (rather than a formula-based system) is fair, clear and empowers Artists with a greater understanding of how to most effectively market their music. * NO CAP OR "MONTHLY POT" There is NO LIMIT to the amount of money Premium Artists are eligible to receive in flat-rate earnings. By removing the monthly pot, your earnings will no longer be affected by other Artists' song plays. * NO PUBLIC DISPLAY OF EARNINGS We've read the message boards and know the public display of earnings was not very popular among Artists. Artist pages will now show total plays instead of total earnings for all Artists. * $10,000 A MONTH FOR BMS PLAYS Each month, $10,000 will be distributed to Premium Artists based on the number of performances their songs receive in the Business Music Services program. * AN ADDITIONAL $50,000 A MONTH IN BONUSES Each month, through the P4P Promo of the Month, $50,000 will be awarded to Premium Artists who excelled at promoting themselves to reach specific goals. Goals will change on a monthly basis and will be announced in emails, the main Payback for Playback page and throughout the Artist area.[/quote] I should mention that VERY FEW artists get promo benefits, and BMS plays - I think these statements are just an attempt to cover up the fact that they're ripping everyone off severely. Comments? Is it greed? Is MP3.com in dire straits financially? Or what? Sui

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[quote]Originally posted by Sui: [b]Is MP3.com in dire straits financially?[/b][/quote] Yes, and it's all because of Master Zap! [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] Seriously, bandwidth is expensive... Especially if there are a lot of folks downloading a 5 MB mp3... I have no idea how mp3.com makes money with the amount of traffic they must have. Does mp3.com still have a program where your songs can be hosted for free? (In other words, I don't pay them and they don't pay me.) If so, are there any catches other than having their banner ads and page layout that they provide?

[LeiDeLi]

MP3.com still has the free service, of which I am a user. Basically, you give up any hopes of actually making any money so that your Mom and friends can find you mp3's [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] It is very slow, poor service, and you have banner ads on your page...but did I mention that it is free ? If you really want to bolster your music career, host your own webpage and go play real gigs ! Peace, Rick [url=http://www.mp3.com/Rick_Daley]www.mp3.com/Rick_Daley[/url]