This article addresses the uses that record companies have made of two rhetorical tropes. The first is that only one in 10 artists succeed. The second is that they are investing in new music. These two notions have been combined to give the impression that record companies are taking risks both economically and aesthetically. They have been employed to justify the companies’ ownership of sound recording copyright and their system of exclusive, long-term recording contracts. More recently, the rhetoric has been employed to combat piracy, extend the term of sound recording copyright and account for the continuing usefulness of record companies. It is the argument of this article that investment in new music is not necessarily risk-taking; rather, it is the policies derived from risk-taking that provide the financial security of record companies.

中文翻译：

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成功率、新音乐和录音版权

本文讨论了唱片公司对两种修辞手法的使用。第一个是只有十分之一的艺术家成功。第二个是他们正在投资新音乐。这两个概念结合在一起，给人的印象是唱片公司在经济和审美上都在冒险。他们被用来证明公司对录音版权的所有权及其独家长期录音合同制度的合理性。最近，这些言论被用来打击盗版、延长录音版权的期限并说明唱片公司的持续有用性。本文的论点是，对新音乐的投资不一定是冒险；相反，为唱片公司提供财务安全的，是源自冒险的政策。