A friend sent this to me on the Facebooks today and in the name of laziness, Im'na just gonna do this:
On FB, responding to my friend Josh, I wrote:The thing that always gets lost in these conversations is that the new way of doing things is the new way of doing things, however, regardless of what we *want*, and it's incredibly difficult to fight. SOPA clearly isn't the way to do it. Most of the ways musicians get paid are based on ancient models. The term "mechanical royalty" has it's roots in something literally mechanical - it's from back when publishers were scared *player pianos* were going to sink the music industry. I blame the music industry for not treating with care the goose that laid the golden egg. Neither here nor there, at this point, because the genie is out of the bottle, and people are going to seek out "free" music now - it's just how it is. You can't sue them into going back to the old way, and morality means so many different things to so many different people that it's a complicated discussion. It's hard to go backwards at this point and I fear all we can do is adapt. As with most paradigm shifts, the old guard will find it hard to do that, there will be an ugly shakedown period (which we are in right now) and it will eventually get figured out. I don't know what that will be or I'd right a book. It's even possible that musicians will go back to being like all other artists - broke as a joke, only doing it for love and more localized. Rock is one of the only art forms ever to be successfully monetized and maybe we're just at the end of that period, though I hope not. I'm optimistic because there are still so many ways to do that. The same technology that can kill you - in this case copying music quickly and sharing it - might save you (more people can hear you and you can distribute your own music, no gatekeeper needed). I doubt anyone will ever get Fleetwood Mac rich again, but hopefully more people will find a way to participate. Hopefully the cream will rise to the top, even though shit floats too.
I really do hope that people can still make money off of playing rock music. It's great work if you can get it. Not to pick on Lowery, because he's just one of the many to speak up but please, any of you, tell me how to fix this. Lowery gives examples of
why you need to protect the thing you love and how you can do your part, but really, how many people are going to see this and how many of those relatively few people are going to follow his suggestions?
No, someone needs to actively implement something that's 90% no brainer and 10% morally the right thing to do. They need to make it so it's more easy to do the moral thing, support your favorite rocker, or however you see it, than it is not to. I've already endorsed what I think the solution is, but that's a tough sell because
a) Record companies aren't behind it. Their self preservation tactics are exactly what will kill them deader than they already are
-and-
b) There are still plenty of artists who think they are owed something, they might win the lottery or a combination of the two. They think this rather than "wow, rock music is the only art form where it's possible to make
some money if I do it right and I need to figure out what works right now, in 2012."
Thinking "b" is tantamount to yelling at the iceberg for being unfair as the ship goes down. The lifeboat isn't as luxurious as the ship, but it might just keep you alive and at the very least, give you some time to think of another plan.
Meanwhile legions of bands continue to make music because they really enjoy it...
-A
