As announced in a recent BBC article, Prince has agreed to release his latest album Lotus Flow3r via US retail chain Target. Prince, known for his activism for the protection of the musician?s copyright, chooses to price his album at $11.98 only. And he is not the only one; both AC/DC and Bruce Springsteen have also distributed an album via Wal-Mart, ignoring the record labels.
Artists here make their point clear: this is their way of showing their dislike of the labels? policies and against music piracy as well. They are actually pioneers towards a change of status regarding the domination of the music business by record companies.
CD prices can become more affordable, music piracy can be tackled and a larger percentage of the profit can go where it actually belongs, to the artist. But we shouldn?t misinterpret Prince. Giving out his album Planet Earth for free in the UK with The Mail On Sunday newspaper is not an invitation for free (and of course illegal) downloading. The greedy labels? policies
are not an excuse for piracy but they can be a motivation for initiatives like the one Prince promotes.
Is this a new age in discography?
The music industry does suffer from piracy (and this includes both companies and artists, famous or beginners) and the phenomenon has been considerably increased by the current economic situation. Some buyers are enraged by the corruption of the record companies and by the non-affordable prices and refuse to be part of the vicious circle of greed.
The result is the gradual collapse of the music industry system as all the small record labels, being unable to afford or risk investment in unknown artists, have been absorbed by the majors that work mainly with temporarily famous musicians, promoting only ?fast food? music.
However, the door of opportunity is not closed for the new talents. The artists can and do resort to alternative methods; they sell albums independently or cooperate with music agencies to get promotion for gigs without the need of the labels, consequently the decay of the labels would happen sooner or later. Apart from that a lot of bands complain about the way the record companies work by restricting them and controlling every step of their public appearance, giving them a lot of pressure and no freedom of expression.
All the above don?t mean that there should be support of music piracy; on the contrary, I have been opposed to that and I will strongly support the fight against it. My personal attitude, however is to always try to find the middle solution without causing extreme reactions. Because after all, everyone pays a price?
Sunday 8 of March 2009
….Use Paypal
March 28th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Indeed the home studios have negatives and positives. I explain it here…
The consequences of the evolution… the computers, one of the most powerful machine. I believe the evolution runs faster than the human brains… The people are not ready to welcome the new standards of living due to the lack of common sense and the pcs are taking over human brains. A knife can be used to cut the bread and feed a poor child, or to make you a criminal. So we cannot be against the home studios (the professionals charge the earth which is unfair), we don’t need to cut the brands but the roots. We cannot stop the evolution but we can do something to wake up ourselves from this hypnotized sheep culture.
Globalization is another form of mass culture, a modern fascism. People have no choice today. The children prefer to listen crap music than David Bowie, the traditional music has been gone forever therefore great achievements have been gone forever. I think it’s time to take our culture back…
March 28th, 2009 at 7:13 am
AS everything in this world, home studios have good and bad sides to them.
I had just enough money to record tracks for my acoustic jazz album in a decent studio with a piano, but then mixed and mastered it at home on my Macintosh – partly because I had no money left.
And, of course, I have trouble selling it – I’m a decent sound engineer, but an awful producer and promoter.
If you’d like to see what my music is, there is a link from my blog.
March 27th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
@George
Thanks for the lovely comment. It seems like there is more quantity than quality in music today. Here in UK and Ireland they only copy the same sound G,C,D chords with lyrics… oh my God, I still wonder where they got this dump inspiration. Where is David Bowie with the Ziggy Stardust and Alladin Sane, Where is Queen, Led Zeppelin, where is the folk music?
I am not against the home studios. I have one myself but I think in overall that has caused more troubles comparing to the problems it solves. And that because a lot of bands influenced by the mass culture, find an easy way to promote their nonsense music, which I call noise pollution…
It seems like the face of music industry is changing, the agencies could do it better than the record companies undoubtedly, however as you say dollars will win at the end and that because the artists considered inferiors in most of the communities and it is worsening, as the following example confirms that: Here in UK and Ireland, if someone wants to go in a work agency to find a job, the application is free, the agents will get payed by the employers but the music agencies charge the musicians instead.
It is true the listeners don’t pick up what they like. We have to confront the mass culture, the sheep community. And I resist to that. That’s why I am… the black sheep :)
March 27th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
We both answered a question on the yahoo answers. That’s how I found your blog…good move.
I was there to check out the landscape. I am new to the I-net…
“New Age of Discography” was good. I love the metephor “fast food music” you nailed that one buddy. I have heard of bands that got deals just so they wouldn’t be heard and compete. The face is changing and I hope it goes the way that gives new talent a break. In this consumer age so many people like what they are marketed to like…Like a lazer dot comes out of the radio or TV putting a red dot on their forehead. In the 50’s,60’s and 70’s it seemed more like the listener picked what they liked. Maybe I am wrong.
It seems also that myspace is getting caught up in the BIG MACHINE and DJ’s and Kareoke take more of the small venues. Computers and the internet will alter the old ways
I hope for the better of the listener and the artist. But promotion and promotion… dollars will win in the end.
Since Sears Catologue and Rockefeller and Gobels learned the not so secret, secrets, of how to sway the masses…We have been a manipulated public. I fear “The Decay of the Labels” will be just a redistribution of wealth. And it will be the unpromoted newer artist that suffer the most “Some or most are AMAZING TALENTS”…but never heard. Walmart will never make a deal with them.
The computor does level the playing field and those that have savy at it…stand a much better chance. And on a certain level brings back the days when a one take recording done in an unknown small indie or home studio could be a hit.
In the 50’s,60’s and 70’s there was no home studios. At least not with the quality you can do at home today.
Keep writing and spreading your word.
George