The Problem With Music by Steve Albini

[mountain_rage]

Came across this article, found it to be a real good example of why change is needed in the music industry. Thought you guys might like it.

Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed.

Article

Fast forward and we are starting to see the changes taking. This other article does a great job of explaining the shift the music industry has taken. Most Zeropaid members are aware of these changes, sadly very few legislators have that same knowledge. Its another good read talking about the new marketing options for the artists, the decline of the big 4 and how we are seeing more power given to the artists.

David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars

[wapazoid]

Oh shit... outta the way MR!

[cheapprick]

It's strange.

I know that link gets posted here every once in a while but I could only find it once from 2005. Google returned a page in which someone at another site referenced the piece from here from 2003. Either the search is worse than I thought or old news/threads all go missing in the end.

Specifically I know the article was posted here right around the time I joined because I remember Crazy Horse replying "can anyone say 'indentured servants'?"

[mountain_rage]

I'm fairly certain you can only search back to about 2005. My first post was for some computer help if I recall correctly. Yet if I look back I don't see my first post.

[Drew Wilson]

It's pretty much things like this why I give away music away for free.

I could work hard and eventually catch a labels interest (long-shot), then eventually have all my profits whittled down to barely a grand after a year of hard work and selling millions of albums.

Or...

Give away my music online for free, encouraging re-distribution. Have my music downloaded a quarter of a million times. Then have 1% come back when I announce an option to purchase it. Lets say it's solely CDs I sell.

250,000 downloads
2,500 purchases

15$ per album
5$ for distribution costs.

2,500 x 10 = 25,000$ gross.

All that without getting my ass out of my chair and signing a contract that'll screw me over. Treating your fans like human beings, what a concept!

Don't even get me started on the control of my work.