Some sort of statement
Thursday July 31, 2003 – 1:38 pmOne of my commenters is tro… ::ahem:: ASKing for a statement from me in support of independent music. I know, it’s a little crazy but I guess I’ve confused people by what I’ve said before about filesharing. So in case I haven’t made it perfectly clear as mud already, I have MIXED emotions. I see the good and I see the bad. So here are a few of those feelings for the record, one more time in no particular order:
- I support indie music. DUH… I’m an indie musician!
- I have to trust other people for the most part; do I have a choice?
- I believe my own fans are quite trustworthy, save for a few stalker-like weirdos
- I have downloaded music and shared music that I like, BUT
- I stopped, because I got scared like a lot of people, BUT
- My label gives away free MP3s on their site, and so do I
- I do not think filesharing should be outlawed
- I really want people to hear what little music I have made, BUT
- It’s a little disconcerting when I see my entire life’s work available for free, especially since so many people have helped me to get it out there, and they deserve to see an income as much as I do, BUT
- I think filesharing actually helps the indies more than it hurts, BUT
- I think filesharing hurts the majors more than it helps, BUT
- Maybe the filesharing explosion is a form of karmic payback for them?
- I don’t want people to buy my music if they don’t like it, BUT
- Not everybody can like it enough to buy it, AND
- I used to make perfectly good money from those people, AND
- I too used to buy music that I didn’t end up liking, AND
- I think musicians should be paid for their work, BUT
- only when there’s money involved, BUT
- I think having every single piece of music out there freely available could be dangerous for the future of the music business, BUT
- I don’t trust the RIAA to enforce laws regarding usage of their own boogers, much less the music they claim to support, BUT STILL
- I don’t enjoy breaking laws, BUT
- I can’t possibly agree with every law on the books, SO
- I have on occasion broken laws myself just like anyone, AND
- I think laws I disagree with should be changed.
Are there any more obfuscations clarifications I should make? I’d really much rather be working on creating things than flapping my jaws, BUT… I do that all the time anyhow, so whatever.
July 31st, 2003 at 9:24 pm
Thanks for your thoughts Matt. I have a zillion CDs too. One thing I should say is please don’t forget that some of us are mainly recording artists and don’t participate much in the touring game. For me, I don’t necessarily make money that way at all, it’s more often that I lose money or merely break even (just enough to pay the rent for the time I’ve been gone), so I have to consider it as a form of promotion to sell the CDs. Coming out to see me play is great but even if you buy a CD then, the money will probably be going to offset that rent-a-van or to pay the band, food, gas, tolls, and the occasional hotel room when I can’t find someone nice enough to let us crash on their floor.
I wrote that shit at 4 in the morning and went to bed, then woke up and went… ‘omigod, what have I done?’ And I don’t think I was even addressing the question the guy actually had, whatever that was, I just went off on some rant. Again! ::sigh::
July 31st, 2003 at 10:11 pm
Edith,
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I know that living in this black hole of a music scene (Pittsburgh) I’m much more inclined to buy CDs than wait around for musicians to make it here (although I have had the very good fortune of seeing Kristin Hersh (who happens to be my Very Favorite Artist™) here several times). So, instead of waiting for you to get your ass up here, I think I’ll visit DragCity and buy a CD or two. I actually need to replace one of yours that my friend lent me a few years ago and I promptly left in a rental car (along with like 15 other great dics) on a trip to California. I’m going back again this fall, so let’s hope I don’t make the same mistake twice. ;-)
In any case, I apologize for my post being a bit jumbled; I guess that’s what happens when you try and update your weblog from work. I was looking for some sort of pie chart I remember seeing a few weeks back that broke down percentages from CD sales, and who got what. I just remember seeing that the cut for the artist was painfully small.
July 31st, 2003 at 10:49 pm
The painful truth is that none of us has any money to blow on the things we love the most. I sure don’t. I only buy maybe one CD every month or two when it used to be I’d buy four or five or even more.
The good news about the cost breakdown you mentioned is that a lot of indie labels (D.C. included) split the profits 50-50 with the artists. That’s extremely generous considering the amount of work they have to do. They’re basically giving me money that the major labels would use to parlay into development of future efforts, to market my cds, to fight off the pirates (the REAL pirates I mean), to get them shipped and distributed in all the places people have complained that they find my CDs. Instead it’s going into my pocket and maybe I can feed myself if I’m very careful. I guess whatever anybody does, we’re all screwed but at least we can sleep at night, and the music isn’t half bad! heheh
July 31st, 2003 at 11:54 pm
Two things:
1. Perhaps you should make some extra cash as a weblogging evangalist. Go to conferences, talk about how you’ve "increased marketshare" and "heightened awareness" for your music through your blogging. Apparently it’s all the rage these days. ;-)
2. It’s unfortunate, but there are some artists that I really like that are on non-indie or RIAA-affiliated labels… My beloved Matador Records, with artists like Yo La Tengo, Solex, and Jon Spencer, is a member of the RIAA. Conversely, not every artist on an indie label is the Greatest. Band. Ever., so I’m still stuck trying to find music I like, and do the right thing at the same time.
August 1st, 2003 at 12:19 am
That blog-evangelist thing might have been a good idea in 1996-98, when there wasn’t a word for it and my site just had a ‘what’s new’ page and then an ‘online journal’. Now blogging has exploded — here comes AOL! so it doesn’t need any help from me. It’s more than I can do to just maintain my own shit; if I go out on tour it’ll be to promote the music, not blogging.
Re the music: yup. Me too. I love Radiohead, Bjork, lots of bands who, because they’re on a major label are getting exposure that I couldn’t dream of. Even I get money (money that I really really need) via publishing through BMI. THEY are teaming up with the RIAA whether I like it or not. I simply can’t throw that money away and stop collecting royalties from the songs I write. If I didn’t, the money would be collected anyway from sources all over the world, and they’d just keep it.
Well, I have all this shit to do… gotta stop posting for today! eeek!!
August 9th, 2003 at 12:26 pm
filesharing has helped me out a lot. that is how i found out about your music…then i ordered the records from the local store…so hmm…i don’t know if the person i downloaded it from ever bought the record, but it sold 3 albums to me, so not so bad..