Sunday, February 03, 2008

I was reading Amy Rigby’s latest blog entry about the new Jill Sobule record. The way she’s financing it isn’t groundbreaking but I’m sure it’s going to work out. For every label like Razzia or YepRoc that do a solid job of promoting their artists there are 50 that just coast. That are just an overhead for the artist. I dunno about you but I’d willingly pay a subscription to my favourite artists. To aid their continued existence and to make the music they want to make. I’m not sure how that will pan out but there has to be a way. After all, there are plenty of wingnuts out there who will gladly sign up to their tracking device. On one hand you’ve got U2’s manager – an outfit that has more money than some countries – baying for the blood of the download pirates. Why doesn’t he use some of that untold world to fund some scheme that might ultimately mean that all bands and musicians get a cut? The genie is out of the bottle bigstyle so it’s time to try and cajole people into putting themselves in the acts position. Would we like somebody to come into our house and just have ‘em help themselves? No. And somebody needs to think about the independent shops too, they need to make a living too.

Music is an important staple of everybody’s existence. To a lesser or greater degree. Consider operations like Norton, Ace or RPM. All mining to bring us top grade packages with liner notes, design and information. There has to be several tiers. If some donkey just wants the track for their phone or iPod, that’s one thing. But some of us want more. It would indeed be great if people would attend shows and buy their product direct from the artists. However in these economically challenged times, there’s not a lot of disposable income to go around. So things like music are the first to suffer. It’s an expensive consideration to go to a couple of shows every week.

There’s just so much stuff. It’s hard to process it even if you have the will to do it. I’m swamped, but in a good way. That’s why I want this to be a positive filter. Some folks have asked me, why don’t I publish any bad reviews? Well for obvious reasons. There’s no point. I might be the ultimate grouch but I want to direct you, the browser, to something I think you’ll get a kick out of. Something that’ll give you a lift, even for a second or five. In these days where you can actually hear, and see if you agree, then there’s no damage done. I don’t want or expect everybody to agree. Whether you do or not is immaterial. Not owning an iPod, I’m old school. I want the physical item. Checking out mp3’s is useful but beyond that there’s the whole sound quality argument. It's a pickle alright and no mistake...

1 comment:

Jeroen Vedder said...

Hey, those iPod's come in handy for various reasons, it's just another way of listening to music.
On sound quality; there was a good piece on just that in a recent issue of Rolling Stone that adresses said issue in a clear and understandable way. Recommended reading!

Jeroen