Re: [microsound] microsound future

[dave palmer <palmderski1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

on 12/22/00 12:13 PM, Geoff Farina at geoff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
once again i would point to the true profit margins of both the majors and
most of the "indie" labels of which you speak. let me make it clear that i
do not want to argue about what truely was the most profitable label, i want
to mainly point out where i think the ability of artists to make thier
living with thier art is headed. i appreciate what internet piracy has done
for "underground" music but i'm afraid it will also help to destroy it.
small time artists must garner very loyal fans to compete with what is
coming, namely, the ability to download for free hi-fi recordings of
anything placed on a hard drive that has any form of music sharing software
on it. the majors will figure out a way to weather this storm and ,in fact,
will probably find a way to control it somehow but the little person will
lose alsmost all ability to profit from thier work. now those of you who
don't believe in profiting from what you do need to all move in together and
eat fish heads and rice for a while. it is unbelievably naive to think that
making a living off of your art is somehow bad or detrimental to the work
itself. you either make your own money from your art or you are completely
dependent upon the machinations of others. we should be figuring out new
ways to protect our musical rights and find new ways to make money off our
efforts instead of rally crying alongside piracy just because it seems
somehow non-status quo. in the end all this destruction of property rights
will give more power to the labels and less to the individual and all the
"radicals" out there will less heard than ever.
> 
> 
>>> thrill jockey records was the most profitable record company in th US
>>> last
>>> year and they deal mostly with indie rock and various forms of
>>> instrumental
> 
> This is silly. Any one of hundreds of major-label artists alone generate
> more net profit than TJ's entire catalog, and there are many indie labels
> that sell much more accessible indie music that make much more profit each
> year than TJ. Look at the sound scans and you can get a glimpse at how
> labels like TJ are excited to sell 15K-20K copies of one release, while any
> one MTV star (Britney Spears) alone constitutes a massive industry
> supporting many small companies that and merchandising endeavors.
> 
>> it is unwise to think that rampant piracy will somehow make underground
>> music more viable,on the contrary, the small time operator will never be
>> able to sell anything. perhaps this is what you want? if musicians can't
>> make aliving off their music they'll be more dependent than ever on big
>> business or private investment or fucking day jobs which really suck! the
>> little person,like always, will suffer first.
> 
> But "piracy" is only a function of our current system of music
> commodification. Many people say (and I agree) that the 20th century will be
> remembered as a brief point in time in which music/art was treated a as a
> mere commodity in our Capitalist system, with it's little idiosyncratic
> categories of "royalties" and "piracy" playing into the brief and
> relatively-meaningless drama. Music/art typically had a much more social and
> communal function for thousands of years before our current historical
> context, and Napster hints that it may reclaim this role in the future.
> 
> I should also say that music has been my primary employment for the past
> seven years and recording royalties have been my primary income, second only
> to performance fees, so I (seemingly) have a lot to loose in this debate.
> However, I am in full support of Napster and Gnutella because what's at
> stake is the stuff that makes underground music vital in the first place,
> which is far more crucial to me than my own short-term profits.
> 
> Geoff Farina
> 
>> 
>> 
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> website: http://www.microsound.org
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> website: http://www.microsound.org
> 

--Boundary_(ID_BKgs/QuIunPxua7WdCDGKA)
Content-Type: message/rfc822; Name="Re: [microsound] RE: microsound Digest 28 Dec 2000 14:43:21 -0000 Issue 221"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit