Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Steal This Music
The future is right now.
I'm taking Audio Production at school, so there's not a day where I don't hear how the Internet is changing everything. And it's true.
I think the music industry is just the canary in the cavernous mine of content delivery. Decentrilization is the fundamental idea of our generation. We could debate the causes for hours: technology, the co-option of rebellion by mainstream culture, or a societyobsessed with youth . But for whatever reason, we just can't take orders.
If technological development and broadband internet saturation continue to increase at the current rate, (and there's no real reason to expect that they won't) then it won't be long before we Kazaa DVD-Quality feature films back and forth faster than we trade White Stripes MP3s now.
But for now the phenomenon is confined, for the most part, to music. It's inevitible that this will destroy the current music business. There's no hope for those companies to make the type of money they need to survive in their present form. And with the internet providing the artist direct access to their fans, the major labels have become redundant. The middle man, or rather middle men are being eliminated.
The problem is that most people confuse the music business with the music itself. Music is not a product, it's an idea or an event. CDs are a product. For all of history, recorded music has been tied to its physical medium of delivery. Why do we still call a four song album an EP, even though 95% of EPs are released on CD? Because the media has dictated form for so long that we are no longer even aware of the limitations.
With internet delivery, this connection is broken, and songs once again exist in their own virtual space. You can consume them in any way and any place you want to--MP3s on your hard drive, burned on a CD in your car stereo, or if you're a lucky bastard on a sweet-ass iPod.
The length and scope of the work is no longer dictated by the limitations of the physical medium. On the internet you can release single songs as MP3s, group them in albums or even have an always-on radio station featuring constantly changing computer-generated music. It's ideas like the last one, ideas that are completely outside of the current paradigm that will set the tone of this coming century.
Advances in technology have always spurred new developments in music. The 12" Vinyl single spawned the disco revolution, and with it all of todays dance music. To reach further back in history, just look at the effect that the invention of the piano had on music in its time.
The same is true for all of the arts. Modern materials science has enabled the tower-of-glass architecture that dominates our urban centers. Digital cameras and photo editing have revolutionized photography. The camera itself completely changed the course of the visual arts, freeing them from literal representation.
At each of these junctures, the people with the most invested in the old way of doing things cried foul, and bemoaned the death of their art. Think of how film studios reacted to the introduction of the VCR. Or even how the music industry reacted to the growth of radio. We hear those same dire prophesies from the RIAA today. "We have to kill MP3s!" they cry, "Or we'll disappear and there will be no more music." They're wrong on both counts.
First, there's no way that the majors will go under. They're going to be vastly reduced in size, for sure. But they still own the rights to 95% of the music that we know today. That's the complete libraries of Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Frank Sinatra, and every other artist you love. They still make money every time Born To Be Wild is used in a movie. I mean, come on, there's no way that the people who own the rights to Dark Side of the Moon will ever go bankrupt. Not as long as there are hash brownies to be eaten.
Second, even if they did disappear, there will still be music. There was music long before Thomas Edison made scratches in a wax cylinder, and there will be music forever more. The RIAA's claim is proved doubly false by the glut of affordable recording equipment availible at your local music store. For less that $2000 you can turn your living-room PC into a Digital Audio Workstation capable of producing CDs good enough to sell. You can do it for less than $1000 if you're not fully committed to legitimate software licensing. Artists no longer need to beg to be loaned the money to make an album. They're making more music for less money and in less time than ever before.
So don't worry about the musicians, they'll be fine. Maybe not everyone--artists who have already signed major label deals are probably in for a rough ride. But then you should always check the hull of the ship for holes before you agree to go sailing.
The indie acts, though--you know that band you love who's going to be big that no-one has heard about yet--they're doing better than ever. Everyone is getting equal access to the playing field, and the best man or woman is going to win, not the best-looking.
Download MP3s. By the millions. Scare the shitheads into changing their ways. It's about fucking time.
-Trevor
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I'm taking Audio Production at school, so there's not a day where I don't hear how the Internet is changing everything. And it's true.
I think the music industry is just the canary in the cavernous mine of content delivery. Decentrilization is the fundamental idea of our generation. We could debate the causes for hours: technology, the co-option of rebellion by mainstream culture, or a societyobsessed with youth . But for whatever reason, we just can't take orders.
If technological development and broadband internet saturation continue to increase at the current rate, (and there's no real reason to expect that they won't) then it won't be long before we Kazaa DVD-Quality feature films back and forth faster than we trade White Stripes MP3s now.
But for now the phenomenon is confined, for the most part, to music. It's inevitible that this will destroy the current music business. There's no hope for those companies to make the type of money they need to survive in their present form. And with the internet providing the artist direct access to their fans, the major labels have become redundant. The middle man, or rather middle men are being eliminated.
The problem is that most people confuse the music business with the music itself. Music is not a product, it's an idea or an event. CDs are a product. For all of history, recorded music has been tied to its physical medium of delivery. Why do we still call a four song album an EP, even though 95% of EPs are released on CD? Because the media has dictated form for so long that we are no longer even aware of the limitations.
With internet delivery, this connection is broken, and songs once again exist in their own virtual space. You can consume them in any way and any place you want to--MP3s on your hard drive, burned on a CD in your car stereo, or if you're a lucky bastard on a sweet-ass iPod.
The length and scope of the work is no longer dictated by the limitations of the physical medium. On the internet you can release single songs as MP3s, group them in albums or even have an always-on radio station featuring constantly changing computer-generated music. It's ideas like the last one, ideas that are completely outside of the current paradigm that will set the tone of this coming century.
Advances in technology have always spurred new developments in music. The 12" Vinyl single spawned the disco revolution, and with it all of todays dance music. To reach further back in history, just look at the effect that the invention of the piano had on music in its time.
The same is true for all of the arts. Modern materials science has enabled the tower-of-glass architecture that dominates our urban centers. Digital cameras and photo editing have revolutionized photography. The camera itself completely changed the course of the visual arts, freeing them from literal representation.
At each of these junctures, the people with the most invested in the old way of doing things cried foul, and bemoaned the death of their art. Think of how film studios reacted to the introduction of the VCR. Or even how the music industry reacted to the growth of radio. We hear those same dire prophesies from the RIAA today. "We have to kill MP3s!" they cry, "Or we'll disappear and there will be no more music." They're wrong on both counts.
First, there's no way that the majors will go under. They're going to be vastly reduced in size, for sure. But they still own the rights to 95% of the music that we know today. That's the complete libraries of Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Frank Sinatra, and every other artist you love. They still make money every time Born To Be Wild is used in a movie. I mean, come on, there's no way that the people who own the rights to Dark Side of the Moon will ever go bankrupt. Not as long as there are hash brownies to be eaten.
Second, even if they did disappear, there will still be music. There was music long before Thomas Edison made scratches in a wax cylinder, and there will be music forever more. The RIAA's claim is proved doubly false by the glut of affordable recording equipment availible at your local music store. For less that $2000 you can turn your living-room PC into a Digital Audio Workstation capable of producing CDs good enough to sell. You can do it for less than $1000 if you're not fully committed to legitimate software licensing. Artists no longer need to beg to be loaned the money to make an album. They're making more music for less money and in less time than ever before.
So don't worry about the musicians, they'll be fine. Maybe not everyone--artists who have already signed major label deals are probably in for a rough ride. But then you should always check the hull of the ship for holes before you agree to go sailing.
The indie acts, though--you know that band you love who's going to be big that no-one has heard about yet--they're doing better than ever. Everyone is getting equal access to the playing field, and the best man or woman is going to win, not the best-looking.
Download MP3s. By the millions. Scare the shitheads into changing their ways. It's about fucking time.
-Trevor
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