So many profound past moments resuscitate the P2P revolution in my memory: the discovery of the unstoppable underground IRC and FTP channels back in the early 90’s, the glorious Napster conversion for the mainstream provoking Wired.com’s resplendent October 2000 magazine cover, being able to edit/encode audio and video for preserving improvement upon free media, or even more recently…holding the best Mp3_player in the PALM of my hand.
Yet the image which resonates loudly is the voice of Shawn Fanning (a.k.a. The p2pPioneer) onstage at the 2000 (how could the year be more appropriate of future file sharing outlooks as this spokesperson propels us into envisioning a 21st century?) MTV Video Music Awards. As Carson Daly addressed the ‘music war’ with Fanning warmly applauded, he said to the Metallica wearing t-shirt teenager, “Nice shirt.” Amidst slight laughter and Lars Ulrichs’ (Metallica drummer) priceless reaction, Fanning flawlessly re-addressed the origin point of where the philosophy all began, “You like it?…actually a friend of mine is sharing it with me.”
This philosophy Fanning refers to extends beyond the exchange of media itself. The Internet’s global connectivity of music between users adduces unlimited geographic boundaries spawning “cultural diversity to the world through the free expression of ideas, the emancipation of information, the discovery of arts and sciences and the unfettered communications between humankind.” (Xolox.com frontcover quote) It’s imperative to cultivate different cultures interacting to understand each other’s panorama of emotions through one universal language: music-devoid of translation. More truthful fodder to the reader…I have spoken to various people from around the Earth including Spain, Portugal, Germany, Japan, Russia, France, Jamaica, all over the UK, Netherlands, Argentina, Canada, Holland, and other conversational regions.
Napster ignited a blast radius of technological ideal and Wired.com’s October 2000 issue unleashed their P2P yellow pages, anointed with a cover of mp3 Metallica code in the American flag annotation. This graphic attests to the embraceable P2P explosion while Metallica’s words of double meaning, “Don’t Tread On Me,” needn’t serve as a desperate defense for the band (to salvage what’s left…millions?) but a definitive demand for protecting progressive programs for the consumer. Today’s software emphasizes the safeguard of anonymous research, faster transfer rates/auto-que resume (i.e. onionnetworks.com’s WebRAID and Tornado latest developments), spyware free and most importantly a proliferating archive of endless selection. The world’s largest uncensored library remains beautifully crystallized like temple treasure in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Accumulating Mp3’s is particularly time consuming and complex when you have Renaissance randomness for tastes and appreciation for almost all types of genres. It’s impossible to conceptualize record companies sharing distribution as a one stop mp3 shop. They ostentatiously disregard the customer wanting to find a file the first time around and not sift or filter (pressplay.com and Emusic.com to name a few) for the piece of music which may stir precious memory. Their competition towards greed will never triumph over a consumer’s choice of CD customization, nor succeed while a global market unifies its cultures listening to each other. Surfing through radio presets, 10 of 12 being trendy payola for your Maxwell logo, falling out-of-the-chair-goose-bump experience, sucks. Facing the agony of repetitive stations, customizable playlists are at the epicenter for people to immerse themselves. This option fulfills the desire to choose content contingent on kaleidoscopic moods and impulses. Pirate radio enthralls a sense of extreme variety and choice subduing the subjugation from increasingly spoon fed pop. Private promotion through payoffs and non-competitive audio control collapse in perfect synchronism, allowing us “as curious tourists should we not be able to take our own snapshots through the crowd rather than be restricted to the official souvenir postcards and programmes?”(excerpt from John Oswald, www.TheWire.Co.Uk issue #219 May 2002)
Don’t believe the hype, industry damages are blown out of proportion. New releases have diminished in production yet remain unfavorably high in average price. Artists ink their name on the dotted line and, after a transference of power handshake, the studios reap up to over 90% per CD profit while the up-and-coming artists find grand scale exposure through the MP3 underground. Somehow I find little pity when I search engine the RIAA economics as a billion dollar entity and results return lavish lifestyles. I’m sure there are plenty more “Cribs” episodes waiting to be catalogued. Capitalism and the free ‘try-before-you-buy’ enterprises have created a fault line rift of unbalanced proportions. Unfortunately, due to my broad tastes, there’s more music available than affordable in one’s lifetime.
What are artist’s reactions and alternative compensations-solutions? Widespread resistance from headliners such as Britney Spears, Don Henley and Nelly advocate anti-file sharing. While Slim Shady may have rapped about downloading audio on mp3’s, Smashing Pumpkins praised fans in its website forums for coming together to know the words before the concert. Translated for the RIAA: The crowd echoes from onstage lyrics are worth the tickets, and our middlemen (of the game) are staff security at the event. Slum Village’s video “Tainted” has one of its own M.C.’s sitting down at a re-enacted record contract meeting, tearing up the record deal, and knowingly shredding and shrugging off any future artistic compromises. The new form of compensation will emerge in advertising, marketing, ticket sales, contests and, of course, merchandising and sponsorship. Colossal middlemen will spiral towards threatful decent as artists envelope with independent labels and selling directly from websites. This creates fervor for the dissolve of the RIAA and their constituents like huge labels. Local distributors’ sell off strategy may change drastically to the infrastructure of say a streetlightrecords.com or RasputinMusic.com. The used CD sections dominate the low-priced inventory and trade/sell into almost any category. From the Prince name change, to Milli Vanilli auditions for backups and now Mariah Carey’s EMI fiasco. Tech N9Ne serenades Weezer and others. Weezer pre-leases music on the radio and Internet before the record company can blink, Tech N9NE’s F**k the Industry (or more politely “Free the Industry”) movement reinforces utmost consumer resistance. Meanwhile artists diverge over free access and again the RIAA gets hacked. When has the message not gotten through? Stick to nabbing the kiddie porners (really).
Artists not only assert their artistic leverage to remain modern and marketable, they must also act as their own lawyers in a sense. Like an actor reading all their own scripts to avert a potential miss by an agent, musicians must absorb the professional business aspects and independently represent themselves in the industry in order to truly survive.
Canadian composer John Oswald’s Construction of music through Plunderphonics is fair use in pursuit of synthesizing new forms of sound through inspirational sampling. (www.TheWire.Co.Uk issue #219) If the artist samples for composition they are no different than the consumer. A 49 year-old bookkeeper’s downloading of music is as common as “morning coffee and rush-hour commutes.” The demographic generational gaps are an unstoppable force. We live in a plasma sphere of electric interconnectivity currents: touch and sound are sensitive in reaction to a voice from the beat of music and life. Though the record companies continue to have the ‘objection sustained’, the hydra’s head sprouts 3 or 5 improved replacement programs every time a shutdown of one occurs. Raymond James analyst Phil Leigh, “They’re winning the war, but losing on the battlefield.” If lyrics (knowledge) possess potential to coalesce masses, this breaks down the borders of understanding and relating from a distance.
Intel’s Inside My Music commercial featuring
Moby states simply “we’re growing in numbers” with pictures of CD burning (“…growing in speed”), Sharpie art designing the discs (“…can’t fight the future, can’t fight what I see”), and exchanging audio for the car ride ahead (…“people they come together”). “People they fall apart, No one can stop [the free info ago] now, Cause we are all made of stars.”
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