I'm not going to go in to great detail. I just finished writing a huge
letter to DJ Shadow over this topic in response to a similar line of
discussion that I found on his web site. I will make a few points though.
1. Almost everyone I know that makes or promotes music in anyway has a
day job, and makes a net total of zero dollars on their music. They all make
music because they love music.
1a. The reasons behind this are many. The current system in place to
distribute and promote music is one of the main problems though.
2. In the current system people, for the most part, buy hype, not music.
3. The ability to download music does 2 things.
3a. It relatively levels the playing field. The bedroom producer, or
garage band can now reach as many people as Britney Spears. Word of mouth
becomes more powerful than it has ever been in the history of man.
3b. It ups the anty. With so many artist out there to choose from no
longer can individuals rely on hype such as paid off reviewers, huge
marketing schemes, and a few songs played on the radio or video station. The
artists have to, as they say, shit or get off the pot.
4. Redistribution of wealth, and toppling of corporate hierarchies. A
negative side effect for some is this will lower the amount of money coming
in. This is a natural side effect of a market growing becoming wider. People
have more to choose from so they can more easily satisfy their personal
taste. On the other hand many of the bedroom producers that never expected
to make a cent off their music can now start making a small income of their
music, through new systems like paypal.
5a. Systems like paypay also cut out the middle man, allowing the artist
to see more of the money thereby lowering the cost of music for the
consumer.
I think that is all I have to say...Oh yeah one more thing. Music is the
one of the only mediums you are expected to buy without sampling to see if
you like it first. Would you buy a book you knew nothing about? How about a
TV that you have never watched? Or a painting you have never seen?
zach -support the artist you love
quoted 96 lines the way i see it, quite simply, if artists don't make a living from sales
>
>the way i see it, quite simply, if artists don't make a living from sales
>of hard copies of their work, they will ultimately have to return to
>life-eating day-jobs which will only destroy their potential.
>you can't be expected to create great music as well as catching the bus to
>work every morning...
>
>
>
>
>>From: "skism" <cazeone@ramdis.com>
>>Reply-To: <cazeone@ramdis.com>
>>To: <idm@hyperreal.org>
>>Subject: RE: [idm] 2003: The Year the Music Industry Dies - Wired
>>Magazine, 2/2003 Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 19:03:24 -0000
>>
>>
>>Didn't I read somewhere that the Industries loss in sales was actually due
>>to
>>a drop in production, which they tried to cover up in order to have some
>>ammunition for the war against p2p?
>>
>>But in the end I can't see the Industry disappearing anytime soon... Their
>>revenues are still huge so the worst I can see happening is a little belt
>>tightening or maybe the odd merger and acquisition here and there.
>>
>>What's great about capitalism is that it gives an opportunity for small
>>more efficient companies to adapt to new circumstances where the larger
>>companies are too bloated and inefficient to change in time to deal with
>>them. But I guess the music industry is a little different due to the
>>fact that it's dealing with peoples taste (or lack of), so who knows..
>>
>>But even if they did all go bust it wouldn't be much of a problem for
>>most of the people on this list, who i'm sure buy much of their music
>>in specialist stores stocked full of independant music?
>>
>>...skism
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: Brett Dietsch [mailto:elph@lawngnome.org]
>> > Sent: 17 January 2003 17:40
>> > To: seeklektek
>> > Cc: idm@hyperreal.org
>> > Subject: Re: [idm] 2003: The Year the Music Industry Dies - Wired
>> > Magazine, 2/2003
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Friday, January 17, 2003, at 12:24 PM, seeklektek wrote:
>> > >
>> > > The article, in Wired's Feb.2003 issue, on newsstands now, opens with
>>a
>> > > prediction by the late Timothy White,
>> > > editor of Billboard, that the Music Industry will die in 2003. Aw,
>> > > gee:
>> > > wouldn't that be too bad?! ;)
>> >
>> > probably, yeah it would be.
>> > dont get me wrong, im not a big fan of labels and everything, but they
>> > are a semi-necessary evil.
>> > if noone buys the cd's and everyone pirates them, the companies no
>> > longer have any reason to put out cd's, which in turn means noone has
>> > cd's to pirate, which reinstates the need for cd distribution,
>> > which.... well.. go back to the beginning.
>> >
>> > hell yes, i pirate music. i also buy what i like and trash what i
>> > dont. most people just pirate music. im not pulling a moral high
>> > ground pose here, but seriously.. if the industry goes away, any hope
>> > at decent distribution will also go away.
>> >
>> > i _LIKE_ having access to artists all over the world, being able to
>> > find almost any genre of music, and lots that i've never heard of. no
>> > industry, no distribution, less choices.
>> >
>> > now, if only the industry would play nice..
>> >
>> >
>> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
>> > For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org
>> >
>>
>>
>>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
>>For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE*
>http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
>For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org
_________________________________________________________________
Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online
http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org