[atlantaprog] Re: More about music & the internet (Wilco)

I think FS can be good or bad for artists, depending on their music style and the fan behavior patterns within that scene (it's probably good for jam-bands, bad for one-hit-wonder top 40 types). 

Good point. But the system is already set up to favor the one-hit wonders. The FS approach is a way of leveling the playing field for more marginal genres.

I also think it speaks volumes that Wilco jumped right back on the major-label bandwagon when they had the chance.  Must be some reason.

Money, of course! But it also speaks volumes that once they did jump back on the Major bandwagon, they continued using the internet in the same way they were.

  The only problem I have is when someone says that because something works for them and they like it, that EVERYONE must do the same. 

But everyone's BEEN trying to it the *same* way for years (ie score the big record contract) and most have ended up being burned. At least there are now alternative *same ways* emerging!

Metallica's noise-making about this got tiresome a long time ago, and I think they're shooting themselves in the foot with bad PR, regardless of the merits of their argument-- but what gives Tweedy the right to dictate how much money someone else should make?  

It makes good press to slag the rich guys!

I appreciate the idea that the listener is a participant in the live concert... 

Sounds like a Fripp-ism to me!

and in the larger fan/artist relationship, but how does that relate to filesharing? 

I think the term "filesharing" is one of the more misunderstood terms in the music world today. Wilco's approach was to make their tracks available from their site to whomever wished to download them, while many teens simply burn copies of each other's CDs... but the proof is in the outcome. My 17-year old has burned copies of (ironically) every Metallica CD he can find, and he likes them so much that now he is in the process of buying them. If he hadn't had the chance to get to know them via the burned CDs, he never would have spent the money for the real thing - so what's the harm? I've asked him about these things and how his peers approach this sort of thing and he is adamant that without "filesharing", he would have never bought anything other than their "hits".

If people are buying cds and downloading live shows and promotional giveaways with the band's approval, great; if they're just grabbing the two tracks they like off a greatest hits cd in lieu of buying the album, that stinks.  The listener is NOT a participant/collaborator in the studio, certainly.  These are two distinct behaviors with different outcomes and effects on each artist.

How does disallowing sampling without a license equate to racism, exactly?  Counterproductive and not totally reasonable, but racist?

I think the reference is because the court's ruling almost exclusively deals with hip-hop. There's a good write-up on it in January's Keyboard mag. It's a rather draconian ruling and it's apparently already under appeal. I would expect that it will be overturned.

AWG


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