The bigger picture
Monday, 27 January 2014
As we watch another Grammy ceremony, one aspect seems to have been ignored. The collapse of major music corporations. The explosion of online and downloads.

Who is the biggest label in the world? iTunes, of course; my own label - closely followed by Amazon - also my own label.

Forget Universal, Sony and all those two bit, tiny labels that used to be huge. It's iTunes that counts, with over 90% of music sales.

No wonder the biggest stars (Radiohead, Coldplay etc) now put out their own releases - through iTunes and Amazon. Far less aggravation, far more profitable.

And it's the same for books. Who publishes my own works? Amazon, of course. On holiday I read a Graham Greene novel, remembered how much I loved his writing, and instantly ordered three more of his old books from his publisher - Amazon, immediately delivered to my Kindle (actually iPad mini) in Morocco, There are very few booksellers in the Sahara desert, so instant downloads are much appreciated.

Films? Just check out Vile Pervert: The Musical. You can watch it free online whenever you want, in top quality, with great sound. 250,000 already have. It's best through the dedicated site www.VilePervert.com, but it's also on You Tube, as is virtually every other movie.

Which, of course, is also part of the problem. Faceless You Tube censors have taken down Vile Pervert: The Musical a couple of times, insisting I pixilate my flaccid penis during the first five minutes. God knows how other art like Equus or Ian McKellen's King Lear have fared. MichelAngelo's David would need a fig leaf on You Tube.

That's why my movies have dedicated sites. No censors. No dictators.

If you want to see two seconds of my limp cock, watch it on the dedicated site. Bring a magnifying glass.

Several of my songs have also been removed time and again from You Tube. Wilde About Boys, a song in Vile Pervert: The Musical where I praise legal love between males who are over the age of consent, has bitten the dust many times - combined views are over 2 million. Ditto The True Story of Harold Shipman, a lyric suggesting that the media may have exaggerated his crimes. They don't like it up 'em, as Oscar might have said.

Edward Snowden has nothing on me.

Online has other problems. By making everything available, there are no filters. So it's very hard finding real quality.

And that's another problem. It's now so easy - and cheap - to upload product that creative artistes (including myself) don't bother to edit, polish, improve, hone, trim or perfect their work. This means sloppy, lazy product goes up unfinished. Which lowers quality and raises self delusion and indulgence.

Interesting times.