Technically Speaking

While the music biz thinks that a taxation of everyone is the way to go, the backlash is quite evident. The music biz needs the slave musician in order to survive. The case in point is heard 1000 times over and more so these days by any smart band, you don’t need a label in order to make a living in the biz. Now even though 50 cent had the leverage of a big label, he too realizes that he can build his own fan base without a big label.

The key of course is how badly the musician wants to work in the new music biz vs the old “Please sign my band!” regime that dominated for many years. If you want slavery, sign a recording contract and watch your dreams tumble when you don’t meet the accountants bottom line. It’s not worth it. You can be free and record your own music and still distribute it, tour, merch - merch - merch your band - and keep all the proceedings for yourself.

Now we see that you can also build your own “mailing list” these days and have your fan base to yourself also. I think the new business model for the music biz requires a little work, but the tools are all there. The question you have to ask yourself is - do you want to do the legwork and use the tools, or would you rather succumb to music biz slavery?

Technically Speaking, if I was still an active musician in a band, I would do the first as the tools abound everywhere, and you don’t have to sign a slave contract in order to do what you want to do - play your music and tour the world.

Now I was about to finally get done working for today, when I ran across this post by TC. Apparently Mike, along with many other people think that music should be for free. That artists should just keep writing songs for the sake of creating music. Nice to live in a Utopian world, but the fact remains, it costs to be a musician. While you can become a blogger and never make a dime, like probably 95% of bloggers do, musicians on the other hand like to make money for their works. They should. As the saying goes, it’s not all eazy and sleazy as you think it is!

While I agree with the premise that things are changing and hopefully for the better in the music industry, the simple fact is that it isn’t free to record. Yes, you can build your own studio, your own DAW (digital audio workstation), and pretty much do it for free. DIY (do it yourself) is very popular these days amongst the pros and the amateur musicians. No problem there. The problem lies in the fact that it costs money to build such a studio and DAW. It costs money to hire a producer/engineer to do the recording.

Oh you can record on your own, be totally self contained. I have done it before myself. The thing is a lot of musicians don’t like to do both. It can be quite a pain in the a$$ when you get down to it. I for one would rather do one or the other - perform / play my music and let someone else record it - or - in the next case - just be the engineer and twist knobs.

The most fun I had was when I recorded and re-mixed a track for my bud Trashy Feelgood. He wanted to re-do vocals and remix this song - Color Coded Casket - (very timely and thought provoking lyrics I might add), and being the knob twister was actually fun. I had a blast being one or the other for a change. That song should have one of those “Parental Advisory” lyrics. You have been warned.

Now many of you are not into crust punk which is a unique genre, but still the same, the above track has approximately 20 vocal tracks! So there was a bit of work involved, and I received exactly $0 for my work on the track. Not to mention the fact the song is only like 1 minute long, just think if it was your usual pop/rock/country song which is the usual 3-5 minutes long? Think about if I had to record the music also? There is a lot of time involved in creation of a song, even a 1 minute crust punk track.

To the point of “artists can just tour and sell shirts“. Yes and No is the answer on that one. Yes, I agree you can make more money touring and selling t-shirts. That is how the legendary Metallica survived the early days. The fact remains though, not every artist wants to go on the road to play shows. There are many who would rather only put out music, have it bought, and make residuals off of it.

Yes, the system that is currently in place isn’t perfect, but until someone can figure out how to come up with a system where the artist is compensated for writing, recording, and paying for the costs associated with such an undertaking - music will have to be paid for. Right now, TC offers no real solutions, but only a “I told you so!” attitude. What needs to happen is that the recording industry realizing their past mistakes of ripping off artists, and coming to terms with the new way of distributing music.

Technically Speaking, everyone is excited about the data portability group. I would be more excited if there was an organization that actually addressed the concerns of all musicians whether they only wanted to write and record music or whether they wanted to tour and give their music away for free or for promotional purposes. While Mike definitely doesn’t work for free as a blogger, many of us do. Why should musicians be forced into servitude just because someone wants to and think it’s their right to have their music that they put their hard earned time into for free? It’s not right, and I think if Mike wasn’t making money blogging, the whole “I told you so!” attitude might be more like mine - “Let’s get something going here that will make a difference and work it so that musicians can make money all the time - with or without the recording industry.” diamond rings

I know that many of you have already seen this on TC. The one thing that TC forgot to promote was the fact that this girl is trying to make it to the Super Bowl. So take a listen, and log on to your MySpace account and vote for her. Kina does a fine job on this song as well as a few other ones she has.

Here are the lyrics to follow along:

When I’m feeling lazy, at school or when I work
I sneak to my computer, and then I like to shirk
I don’t go online shopping, I don’t email with my mom
I open up my browser, and go to digg-dot-com

Chorus: Gotta digg, gotta digg, gotta digg
Gotta make this story big!
Did you hear that awful sound?
Another server’s down!

I always dig up Apple, and I bury Microsoft
But when I said I was a girl, all the diggers scoffed
And when I see those stories about Senator Ron Paul
I don’t even RTFA; I just digg them all!

Chorus: Gotta digg, gotta digg, gotta digg
Gotta make this story big!
Did you hear that awful sound?
Another server’s down!

The fanboys can be tiresome, they always are outspoken
And if you’re listening Kevin Rose, the comment system’s broken!
I know digg isn’t perfect, but be thankful for what we’ve got
It’s just like daddy always says: “At least it’s not Slashdot!!!”

Chorus: Gotta digg, gotta digg, gotta digg
Gotta make this story big!
Did you hear that awful sound?
Another server’s down!

Technically Speaking, a good song is not rocket science, it’s a hook that stays with you. This one has for the past hour.

Yes, that is the want ad you will be reading soon. As the record industry comes to a crashing halt in 2007, early 2008. I think the latest news about Madonna is far more significant than the Radiohead news earlier this week.

Whilst the deal differs from Nine Inch Nails in that Madonna is not offering direct-to-public albums, Live Nation isn’t a record company. The deal shows that even for a world famous act, a record company is no longer required in the days of digital downloads and P2P music sharing.

I believe that there will be some lawyers looking for a new line of work within the law community this year. Being a record company suit is not an option I would recommend for the guys/gals coming out of law school. Hey, maybe there is some room for second life law? It seems like IBM has become nice and cozy with Linden Labs. Never say never, but…

Technically Speaking, the recording industry as a whole did it themselves. I don’t feel sorry for the hand writing on the wall, and neither should you. Think I’m being mean? I’m not. Would you feel sorry for a thief? That’s exactly what the recording industry has been for many years to many artists. Thieves. Plain and simple. Legalized stealing.

While NIN may have laid down the gauntlet in the past 24 hours with their statements, the truth is the recording industry did it to themselves. While they can get the courts to rule against poor Jammie Thomas to the tune of $220,000 in damages, they never have really gotten the wrong they have been doing for the past 100 years or so.

When lawyers sit in offices and pretend they know the music and musician, it’s a joke. It has been a joke for that long, and too many artists have suffered as a result. Too many bands that were promised endless lies and taken advantage of for the good of the record companies bottom line only has fueled my disgust for them.

It’s about time that the artists stand up and say “enough is enough“. I wonder what other main artist that has made enough money throughout their career has the kahunas to stand up and say “I’m a free agent, screw that suit.”

Recording your own music has never been easier with the technology available today. Distribution has never been easier. Touring, well that just takes a lot of work and connection, and not hard to do once you get in the clique.

Technically Speaking, it’s time for some record company attorneys to go make an honest living. It’s way beyond time. I wonder if Lars Ulrich is about to maybe change his tune?