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Celine Dion says ‘drugs’ and ‘bad influences’ led to singer’s tragic end
Quote:
When you think about Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse, to get into drugs like that, for whatever reason,” she said. “Is it because of the stress and bad influence? What happens when you have everything? What happens when you have love, support, the family, motherhood? You have responsibilities of a mother and then something happens and it destroys everything.”
Because of that fear, Dion admits Houston’s tragic death is a cautionary tale.
“I am so scared. I’m scared of show business. I’m scared of drugs. I’m scared of hanging out,” said the singer, who is the mother of three sons.
“That’s why I don’t do parties and I don’t hang out. That’s why I’m not part of show business. We have to be afraid.”
I think Neil Young said it best when he said that file-sharing was simply the radio of the 21st century.
Which is very convenient for Uncle Neil to say, but a completely one sided perspective. Radio was another customer of the music business, and was in the game to make money themselves. So yes, its almost certainly supplanted radio as a primary means of gaining access to new music, but its done nothing to recoup the losses in money flowing through the system.
I'm not saying radio, or the record industry is perfect, but in the old days, it was a neat way of taking advertiser dollars and turning them into mass distribution of music for people that otherwise didn't, or couldn't, afford music collections. Sort of a modern era patronage of the arts.
For whatever reason (money) I assume that there is a lot more stuff (drugs, alchol, sex) or it is easier to obtain at a show biz party than at a regular folk party/hang out.
Why shouldn't they control the price of their product? Shouldn't profit from someone's death? Why? They are not killing her nor celebrating her death. Other than the rah-rah corporations are evil crap, why is it wrong?
Right or wrong, it's this kind of sleazy move that generates bad PR and makes people feel "justified" when ripping off a corporation like Sony.
Hell, if they said "To commemorate Whitney's amazing talent and spread her message of love and hope bla bla bla, Sony Music is offering the Ultimate Collection at a reduced rate for the following week...", they'd probably make more money.
As it is, a lot of people will see this and say "hmm, they cranked up the price because she died, so instead of paying these vultures a few extra bucks, I'll get this recording for free in the time it would take me to find my wallet".
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On the night of the Grammys, the theme of the night, starting with Springsteen, was about how the music family takes care of it's members, one of whom had just died. They used her image, her music and her name to draw the second highest viewership in history. They sang tributes to her. Neil Portnow, presendent of the Academy that awards the Grammys, talked about the Musicares program.
Portnow also used the Grammys as a platform to talk about piracy. He said that we need to ensure that artists get fairly compensated for their work. Fine. But Whitney's not going to see a penny of Sony's hypothetically increased revenue. And whilst they were giving her tribute in the show, they were also deterring people from buying her music. (And if her royalties her family gets are on a per-sale basis, Sony took money away from them.) In effect, Sony was pissing on her grave and flipping the bird to music fans, while the music community was telling us how much they loved her and asking for support.
I get that they have an obligation to their shareholders. I get that when demand increases, prices goes up when you have a monopoly. But even Sony said that the pricing was a mistake, and I agree. They are in a PR war now, and they may be losing. Long-term, maybe even short-term, it's a bad move. And they recognized that after the fact. But what they did not say was that it was an accident.
It is essentially a microcosm of everything wrong with the music industry today. They were handed an opportunity to build goodwill and support, and instead they destroyed it. They were short-sighted and greedy, and it cost them. Kind of like suing your target consumers.
They money they're spending on lobbyists, lawyers, and whetever person thought that jacking up the price was a good idea would be better "spent" on reasonable pricing and designing a delivery system that's convenient and provides for bulk discounts. Pirates are willing to pay for good systems. They pay for usenet, they pay for anonymous servers, they pay for bandwidth, and they pay for premium direct download accounts. Design a product that's just as good, and people will use it instead.
When a painter dies, the price of their artwork goes up. Do you get back at the art vendors by breaking into a gallery and stealing some paintings?
The recording industry has made some horrible PR moves, but I hate when people try to justify their stealing by pretending that they're taking some sort of a principled stand. The truth is, people steal music and movies because they know they can get away with it.
I find Celine Dion's statements a little offensive and it really highlights how out of touch celebrities are with the common people. She makes it sound like ordinary people aren't living stressful lives, working hard and struggling to get by. It's not like these singers and actors are out there saving the world. If they eff up, who cares... life goes on for them and everyone else. At least they have the financial backing to allow for a a greater margin or error.
The temptation of using drugs as a crutch is there for everyone, not just pop culture royalty.
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I find Celine Dion's statements a little offensive and it really highlights how out of touch celebrities are with the common people. She makes it sound like ordinary people aren't living stressful lives, working hard and struggling to get by. It's not like these singers and actors are out there saving the world. If they eff up, who cares... life goes on for them and everyone else. At least they have the financial backing to allow for a a greater margin or error.
The temptation of using drugs as a crutch is there for everyone, not just pop culture royalty.
I agree with this. I would also say that I think most artists and actors/actresses in the entertainment industry are exposed to drugs/alcohol on a higher dergee then someone like ourselves. The simple fact that these people have way too much money makes the dangers readily available and pretty much free.
When a painter dies, the price of their artwork goes up. Do you get back at the art vendors by breaking into a gallery and stealing some paintings?
The recording industry has made some horrible PR moves, but I hate when people try to justify their stealing by pretending that they're taking some sort of a principled stand. The truth is, people steal music and movies because they know they can get away with it.
But in your analogy once that painting is stolen it can no longer be sold to or appreciated by the fans of that artist. It's gone. It isn't theft in the traditional sense, it's copyright infringement and it's a pretty grey area.
Consider, when Game of Thrones came out on HBO I pirated it and fell in love with the show. I've since convinced 3 other couples that it is a must watch show. All 3 have since watched it on HBOs online service (that I will use for season 2) and I re-purchased the books (from a new bookstore, as I must've given away my used copies) so that my girlfriend would stop asking me what happens next. None of us would have given HBO or Mass Market Paperback a cent if piracy hadn't been an option.
But I guess this isn't really the thread for this discussion so I'll just say that at least Whitney Houston died doing what she loved: Drowning in her bathtub.
When a painter dies, the price of their artwork goes up. Do you get back at the art vendors by breaking into a gallery and stealing some paintings?
The recording industry has made some horrible PR moves, but I hate when people try to justify their stealing by pretending that they're taking some sort of a principled stand. The truth is, people steal music and movies because they know they can get away with it.
Not always, and when it does it's a matter of scarcity. There will be no more original Dali pieces. That doesn't apply to music recordings.
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i still disagree. if i want the LMFAO song "Sexy and I know it" and wasnt able to steal it, I would have to buy it. Illegally downloading it therefore represents a lost sale.
You could walk into any night club, wait 7 minutes then hit record on your smartphone when it inevitably plays.
They should raise the prices of her music. The demand is high right now, and people invested a lot into her and she was basically out of control ruining her brand and eventually died early as a result. Everyone around her that was an enabler should be ashamed, not companies in business to sell her products dead or alive.
I would be peeved if I had her in some type of business relationship, better to maximize profit right now.
Every news show that is producing stories about her are doing the exact same thing.
And I am fairly confident that systems like Itunes have a bot managing prices, so even if someone did intervene to manipulate prices, a bot would have done the same thing.
Economics should have no heart to work effectively.
