I'm sorry but it is inevitable - move on and get over it.
The Internet has always been a free and unrestricted media source. The problems of this are enormous but we have to live with it.
Artistes make music because we love doing so and we hope that millions will hear our work and appreciate it. Just because the method employed to reach listeners has changed does not mean we will stop being able to do it. We just find other ways.

Michelangelo never envisaged millions enjoying his genius but that is the way the world has gone; no longer are ox carts and horses the only way to reach Florence. After cars and airplanes came TV and now the Internet. Nobody should ever, ever be charged to see his work.

Just because the idiots running record companies have failed to adapt doesn't mean we must penalise the artistes.

I think we should, as artistes, find other ways to capitalise on our art, not punish those who want to enjoy it.

I largely agree JK. I'm only a small time independant writer/musician but I do it for pleasure. I had my first BBC airplay recently and was a great feeling to be appreciated enough for them to include my work. It's not about money.

Janis Ian was ahead of the game when she wrote, in 2002:

"The Internet, and downloading, are here to stay... Anyone who thinks otherwise should prepare themselves to end up on the slagheap of history."

She wrote a groundbreaking article "The Internet Debacle" for "Performing Songwriter Magazine" in May 2002, which can be found here:

www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html

sorry- the quote above from Janis Ian is from 1998. I repeat the quote as it's quite amazing how she foresaw all this that far back:

"The Internet, and downloading, are here to stay... Anyone who thinks otherwise should prepare themselves to end up on the slagheap of history." (Janis Ian during a live European radio interview, 9-1-98)

I'm all in favour of Lily and Radiohead and the lot but they are a part (even if a new one) of the old model and cannot quite work out the truly radical way it has all changed.

What we need to work out is how to find and break great new music. Not how to sell it.

I personally think the answer is - a great new TV series or radio station.

from today's Pink Paper:

"More than 100 British musicians have attended a three-hour meeting in North London to protest the rise of illegal file sharing.

The group, including such artists as Patrick Wolf and Annie Lenox, voted unanimously in support of Lily Allen who announced her willingness to retire early as a tactic to tackle the problem.

Allen wrote on her blog: “You don’t start out in music with the Ferraris. Instead you get a huge debt from your record company, which you spend years working your arse off to repay."

news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=169...XT,20J0,RJ3CC,6F5U,1

“You don’t start out in music with the Ferraris. Instead you get a huge debt from your record company, which you spend years working your arse off to repay."


That's exactly the old model. But large advances against a total buyout of all the rights doesn't make much sense anymore. Even without file sharing. There isn't enough money to support the old structures.

Billy Bragg who I love, both as a person and as a writer, says "We are trying to find a proportionate response to a real problem that is damaging our industry".

No it's not Billy.

It's damaging the old model of our industry, not hurting our art at all.

Maybe that's the problem. Too many people now see it as an industry rather than an art.

Emma Bee wrote:
Maybe that's the problem. Too many people now see it as an industry rather than an art.
You'll probably find that it's the people that are putting money on the table. And we need them.

M

Wish Lily Allen would retire early. Like before her next album perhaps?

I've said this once and I will say it again.
Monetise your art and rebuild your raison d'etre.

I have done a lot of research and thinking about what the new model is and it is clearly about leveraging celebrity. Sorry for many people who think music is a serious art but today's currency is celebrity status which is sadly lacking in music in a large way.

Reality TV creates more stars than music now and the television model is the only one that works. Why ? Because companies will pay top dollar to be a part of your crowd or buy into your status.

Fans then become more like groupies who want everything you endorse from jeans to books. Whether you seek real TV or use Youtube as the equivalent, the new model is about TV. You can only appreciate it with your eyes and now that product placement is now going to be allowed, you will see how this model makes sense.

Interesting that nearly 2000 people have read this thread in 24 hours.