This article has gone viral and for good reason. What I find most interesting is the set of unquestioned assumptions held by the writer of the article, the NPR intern to whom the article is addressed, and everyone who commented on the article (that I have read so far). Comments are turned off on the original article so I'll post my thoughts here and hope my FB friends read them.
The article uses the term "music" when it is actually discussing recordings, which are the commodification of actual real, live music made by human beings. They are artifacts, not real music. Also, the "music" in question is all commercial music, mostly popular, and the article does not consider the world of non-commodified music and non-commercial musical life. It also assumes that a problem with the marketing and dissemination of these musical artifacts has something to do with music, rather than with business. I look at this as a business/marketing problem as well as a technological one. Obviously we are in a period where the business model is changing and all the people who work in that industry are being hurt. What's needed is a new business model that is not centered around the creation and distribution of musical artifacts.
I would be the last person to argue that artists should not be fairly compensated, hell, I've been affected by the drop in CD sales, too (in fact, I may never make another CD), but I think there is a basic misunderstanding at work here.
I've had a couple of discussions with friends over the last several years about this, during which I was reminded of the Grateful Dead's turning away from commercial recording after they lost their major label contract. The turned instead to performance and encouraged fans to tape their shows and trade those tapes (just so long as they didn't sell them). It had the affect of building their live audience and they were successful for the rest of the band's career.
Now they had an advantage in that they were already well-known and popular, but I wonder if there isn't something in their story that might provide a clue for a new business model for commercial musicians?
Letter to Emily White at NPR All Songs Considered.
thetrichordist.wordpress.com
Recently Emily White, an intern at NPR All Songs Considered and GM of what appears to be her college radio station, wrote a post on the NPR blog in which she acknowledged that while she had 11,000 ...
Roger’s Schedule
Sun. August 17th
Los Changos del Mar @ house concert in
Los Changos del Mar @ Taos Plaza Live series
2:30-3:00 multi instrument workshop
8:00-8:30 Irish session demo
Sat. Sept. 20th 7-10pm
New Celtic Quartet (w/Will Duty (fiddle) Kimberly Foree (flute) & Dain Forsythe (bodhran) @ Taos
Janissary Stomp
Naco, AZ
November 1st
Premiere of Chamber Works "In Blue Spaces" by Paul Elwood and "Sibling Rivalry" by Paul Rudy
New Ear Ensemble
Kansas City, Missouri
November 15-16th
NM premiere of "In Blue Spaces" by Paul Elwood
Taos Chamber Music Group
Harwood Museum
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