The online theft of music is killing artists, singers, songwriters, musicians, retailers, production engineers and others. It is destroying jobs, dreams and careers. The music community is at risk, as is the unique culture of American music itself.
Musicians just need to market themselves differently. Since the music is so easy to steal, give away samples and sell the concerts. A song is only $1 on the internet but U2 concert tickets are over $100.
I can remember when concert tickets were about the same price as a album. Hard to duplicate the concert experience at home. Just like the NFL, they let the consumer watch the games for free but it is $100 to see the game in person.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
I am a musician. I've played professionally and semi-professionally for 30-odd years.
There are many things killing music, and pirating is a valid concern - but that is to me small potatoes. But larger concerns to me are:
1. The lack of music education in schools. I could write a book about this. Music education not only develops one's "ears" to listen to an appreciate a variety of musical genres, but has been shown to help one's ability to concentrate and think critically. Kid's overall performance in school is benefited by music education. On top of that, kids don't get exposed to a variety of styles - they're only exposed to the pablum crap on the radio. That's not even musicians in a lot of cases! That's some engineer with samples and an autotune making some bimbo/bozo who can follow choreography directions sound like she/he can sing!
2. The lack of live venues for musicians to play. I'm not talking Mile High stadium. I'm talking bars, restaurants, coffee shops. Some have an open stage night, and that's great. But many places just don't want to pay a band to play a set or two. And, to their defense, folks don't go out as much as they used to, so the venues just don't have the revenue. We sit at home in front of our tvs and computers and don't socialize face-to-face. The corner watering hole is no longer the center of community on Saturday nights anymore. Too bad!
The chances of making a living as a musician these days are probably about the same as making a living in the NFL. But there used to be a lot of other options to still make a modest living - teaching, playing clubs, playing weddings, etc. Most of those have dried up. Pretty sad, really.
BTW, S. 968 will accomplish one thing only - the recording industry lackeys will get richer and the musicians will still be out on the street corner selling pencils.
Cydl,
Music education in schools sounds like a good idea but it always seems to me that so many musicians grew up with it in the home, and this can go from simply a mother singing as she does the housework to family members actually playing for each other.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
That's true - and that's another thing that is lost today. And if you want to take that a step further, many families had pianos in the home and gathered to play and sing. Of course, that's been replaced by the tv. Now it seems that most parents work and the kids are shuffled off to day care or whatever.
