[Ilugc] free music : what happened - whats happening - why its happening
- From: vamlists@xxxxxxxxx (Vamsee Kanakala)
- Date: Thu Jun 19 22:29:59 2008
Senthil Sundaram (sensunda) wrote:
WHY ITS HAPPENING
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there are lots of other things going on in the Net about ownership.
Music and movies and various other forms of culture are being
distributed better by children than by people that are being paid to do
the work. Artists are beginning to discover that if they allow children
to distribute art in a freehanded sort of way, they will do better than
they do in the current slavery in which they are kept by the culture
vultures, who do, it is true, make a good deal of money out of music,
but they do so primarily by keeping ninety-four cents out of every
dollar and rendering six to the musicians, which isn't very good for the
musicians.
Fair enough. But you see, people forget that record companies came about
because it's just a matter of specialization - a very natural outcome of
progress. Lets face it, musicians want to make music - negotiating
prices, distributing music, setting up shows - it's better taken care of
by people who want to do it. Record companies came along, and simplified
the 'making money' process for musicians. They basically said, "make
music that sells, you get drunk, do drugs, chase women, do whatever,
we'll still put money in the bank for you". Of course, most musicians
took that option.
Of course - music labels have to cover their costs for albums that are
duds - so they depend on a few hits to cover the cost for the duds. It
is only fair that some of the artists felt stiffed - but I suspect
mostly because they don't fully understand how the music industry works.
The new found freedom of bands like Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead to
experiment with price models, is basically because the distribution
costs are close to zero thanks to technology. That does not mean they
are ready to make money out of it. Nor, I suspect, would they be ready
to do the 'boring' parts of making that money.
Hence, again, we are going back to square one - some middlemen who'll
take care of all that hassle, so you're free to make music. What you're
seeing is not any sort of revolution, just an evolution of a business
model. I won't be too surprised if YouTube gets into record distribution
business. Wait. It probably is already in that business. At least, Hulu
is (legally).
It's nice to make speeches about freedom, art, culture, yadda yadda, but
the music industry is born out of a necessity, and the current model
might be crumbling, but there will be a new one in it's place (iTunes is
just one of its' forms).
V.
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