I hate the music industry

Wow. A couple of years ago I put up a series of posts featuring videos of non-mainstream holiday songs. I just went back to check them out, and lots of the videos I embedded in my posts can no longer be seen, thanks to the music industry and their fervent dedication to copyrights.

What complete bullshit! I suppose next they will send out their minions to spy on campfires and tap "Kumbaya" singers with some sort of copyright violation.

The fact is that despite the music industry's fevered actions, music is just not easy to reign in so that it profits only the singer/writer/producer/corporation. From time immemorial, music has blossomed from the efforts of those who came before and has spread by means of replication, imitation, parody, embroidery, and who knows what else that artists have employed through the centuries. You just cannot corral something as elemental as music. It's a losing game. Yet the music industry fails to recognize this and continues with its jihad against ordinary people simply wanting to share what they like musically.

I think this is really shortsighted. Yes, the music industry will continue to blindly seek legal "solutions" to its nonexistent "problem,' because that is how they--being corporatists--are programmed. But I think it's a losing battle. The genie is out of the bottle, and all the music industry is doing is making people angry and bitter at their tactics.

 

Comments

[cindy]

This has a parallel situation in books. People who make money off books, ie publishers, including book, magazine, and newspaper publishers and the writers they make rich,think of bloggers and anyone who self-pubs or gives writing away for free or nearly free as parasites. They blame us for the demise of newspapers, magazines, paid work for professional writers, publishers going under and even for the closing of Borders. Really? If we have that much power then good for us. Everyone has a right to a voice. Including a writing voice.

[Kris]

So true, Cindy! It's all about elitism, which, of course, translates into PROFITS-profits for the few who grow fat off other people's work. No, the corporatists sure don't like the idea of egalitarianism and self-expression. They want to be the ones to guard the door and charge admission to the lowly folk who dare show up. Fuck them! I say. A big Bronx cheer to the lot of them.

[Evan]

I have a slightly different view. I went through college seemingly surrounded by artists of various media, but mostly music. I also worked for a college radio (not regulated by FCC) station. I watched most of these people struggle as their musical aspirations at first created great opportunities (such that they appear at that age) that quickly became untenable career paths. This may not seem a surprise...the world cannot function if EVERYONE was focused on manufacturing the ethereal. However, my strongest memories of this time in my life are indeed a result of my interactions with these people and their art. Music, and other artistic media, undeniably enrich our lives - yet staying the path of the artist is becoming even harder now that it was during the sixties when unscrupulous music companies literally stole the rights to the music of the artists creating it. (See John Fogerty & CCR, for instance). I agree that the music industry has always had, and still has, great problems. I am somewhat saddened, however, that society increasingly takes the position that music is "free". This of course begins to limit our exposure to mass-produced bands and artists like NKOTB or Hanna Montana, as they are increasingly the only artists who can afford to live the life of an artist. I support small, independent music labels, as they usually do not have such a predatory relationship with their signed acts. Many artists are creating their own labels so that they control the pricing and distribution...which is usually far lower than something coming from Geffen, WarnerBros, FOX, et al. I would like to see the public take the tack that musicians should be fairly compensated (during their lifetimes) for the richness they add to our lives. I suppose this is a lot like the rest of the 1% vs the 99% arguments that are going on right now. I just hope that the 99% of the music appreciators remember the plight of the 99% of the artists.