Reach more people thanks to Internet
The issue of downloading material on Internet is very interesting to me and I really enjoyed going through the articles. I may have said that before, I am a big consumer of music in general, in every way. I download music (probably to much), I buy music (certainly too much) and I see too many concerts.
I started downloading with Napster and continued with all the new programs that followed and I never stopped. At the same time, I never stopped buying records, but downloading helps me to make a selection and buy the one I really love. I started being close to the music industry a few years ago (working for a music venue, then a label, and then DJing myself) and Internet has been in the middle of every conversations since that. I met people with all kinds of theories, pro or against Internet, and I think the attitude of the people I met often depended on the money they could make or they could lose. Not so many consideration for the music itself in general.
I think that Internet is a great opportunity for the artists to emancipate themselves from the labels and the music industry in general and a great opporutinty for the public to be exposed to bands they would have never heard of. In this configuration, the big losers would be the major companies and they don't like it, obviously.
In a very good article written in 1993 (The Problem with Music : http://negativland.com/albini.html ), Steve Albini described the situation of the industry and it was obvious that this could not last. To present the character, Steve Albini played in many bands and is also a producer who produced over thousands of bands including Nirvana / Pixies... He knows the subject pretty well. His point was that the record labels have so much power over the bands they signed that the artists were almost deprived of any of their rights over their artistic production, and generally don't earn much money. It is still the case.
On this point, I think that Internet, if it is well used by the bands, can be a great way to avoid this and reach their audience directly. That does not mean the record labels are useless and will disapear (which would be quite unfortunate for me, as I should work for one of them back in France) but Internet can equilibrate the power between them and their artists.
As I said, for the industry, which have been over-ruling the market for years, it's a tough pill to swallow but in the end, I really think that the music will be safe and stronger, over the pure business.
I know I derived a bit from the articles and I may have not been clear on some points. If you disagree and / or want me to clarify some things, I'll be more than happy to debate about it.
I give the link again for the article : http://negativland.com/albini.html
It is very interesting and impressive when we know it was written 14 years ago.
Comments
I agree with you that the Internet is a great way for new musical artists to get their sound out there without the help of music execs. One example I can think of is my friends had a band and they made a couple CDs, they wanted to get their sound out to people around the nation but did not have the funds to do so. So they decided to put their music online for free downloading. They did not care if people bought their music, they just wanted to be part of the music culture and the Internet provides this. If people can responsibly use the Internet, we will benefit in things other than just music.
Posted by: Mark Mahan | April 15, 2007 09:12 AM