Why I Hate Record Companies

You will not meet a bigger fan of classic rock than myself - I think many of my reviews, lists, and guides make that point clear. But while I love the music, the ones distributing it are making horrible decisions/lies/atrocities/etc. It's time that I make it known to the world that record companies are degenerate. Read on, and you shall see why. The points I make in this list are in no particular order.

I. Record companies promise to lower the prices of CDs, and they never do it. And they inflate.
In an effort to compete with the up and coming music download industry, record companies promised that they would lower the prices. THEY NEVER DID, AND AREN'T LIKELY TO. Record companies think people like you and me are stupid, and will pay any price for an album. It's just insulting that they are still charging thirty bucks for them! And just look at how much is charged for each Led Zeppelin and Beatles album! As far as I am concerned, there is no excuse for overcharging people like this. In Russia, you can buy an MP3 data CD which contains all of an artist' albums for less than the cost of a single album in America.

II. Record companies do not listen to their consumers.
Sad but true. If record companies did listen to their fans,  and albums like it would be back in print. The sad part here is that the record companies aren't just hurting their customers - THEY ARE HURTING THEMSELVES SEVERAL TIMES WORSE, by depriving themselves of profits. Weird. They won't put albums back in print, even though they know people will buy them. Instead, the albums fetch huge prices on the black market.

III. Record companies waste opportunities.
Perhaps Mercury Records is the greatest example of this phenomenon. When they reissued the Bob Seger, KISS, and Scorpions catalogues, they left it at that - REMASTERING AND NOTHING MORE! They didn't put bonus tracks on them. They didn't release twofer albums that would make it easier for consumers to get the albums. This is a shame, because in the instance of Rush, there were several rare tracks which would have gone great on the band's first album as bonus cuts. In Russia and England in particular, twofer albums (CDs which contain two albums on one disc) are VERY common. Amazing, isn't it, when the commies are right and we're wrong? Actually, scratch that. We're NOT wrong. Our nation's record companies are.

IV. Record companies sue people for stealing music.
You might say, "of course they do. They are STEALING music and depriving these corporations of profits." You're right; they do. But the fact of the matter is this - THE RECORD COMPANIES BRING THIS ON THEMSELVES! Read everything else in this list, and you'll see just why people steal music - PEOPLE DON'T LIKE BEING CHEATED. And that's just what the record companies are doing to us.

V. Record companies love to milk franchises.
Let's see. How many  hits compilations are there? How many times have record companies made unnecessary reissues and neglected to release necessary ones? In some cases, the record companies will rerelease something numerous times or create new, unnecessary compilations, just for the sake of making a profit. Record companies don't care about their customers. They care about dollars in their pocket.

VI. Record companies are holding out on us.
In many cases, Record companies have recordings on their hands they haven't made available to the public. For instance, Guns N' Roses has a whole album's worth of material recorded - and the record companies aren't releasing it! When the  catalogue was reissued, there were a TON of rare songs the record company didn't release as bonus tracks that they should have! Oh, and Def Leppard? THEY'VE GOT STUFF THAT HASN'T BEEN PUT ON CD - EVER! Admittingly though, I think band ignorance may be as much to blame as record company incompetence here. But if the record companies want to make cash, they should release this stuff!

VII: Record companies have started copy-protecting CDs.
This is just plain stupid. As an owner of a CD, you have the right to make yourself a back-up copy. And now record companies are trying to deprive you of your rights. As if they hadn't done enough bad things to consumers already.

In conclusion:
I think I have made my point pretty well. I hate record companies, and will continue to do so until these atrocities end. To all you record company people - it's not too late. There is still time to improve yourselves, and this guide will tell you how to do it. But if you don't do it, your consumers will grow to hate you, and you don't want that. So don't let it happen