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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | adamghost@aol.com |
| Subject | Re: eMusic |
| Date | Thu, 10 May 2007 20:22:04 -0400 |
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<,But if they can't make an honest living with their music alone, am I
really meant to feel sorry for them? There are many other ways to make
money. I'd love to make a living out of making or selling music, but I
have neither the raw talent nor the business acumen, so I chose to do
something different instead.>>
I have to chime in and support Jaimie here. I'm a little aghast, frankly, at the attitude of a few of the folks here.
Yes, we who make music do it because it's what we love. But for art to exist there needs to be an audience (however small) for it, and the artist is motivated by, if not money, then at least to some extent that the people consuming the art CARE and appreciate what they're doing.
People have this attitude that musicians have some kind of an easy life. For professionals, you're looking at years spent in a cramped van or doing non-stop promotion, making next to no money (even if you're on a major), and not much ability to make supplemental income on your down time. Not to mention it is a profession that is extremely hazardous to health because of the constant travel, odd work hours, difficulty in exercising, unhealthy environment, etc. Typically at the end of it all, you're middle-aged, nothing in the bank, and with few marketable skills. For those that choose to run indie labels, it's similarly long hours at low profit margins. It's very easy to be glib about the starkness of those choices when you never made them. But these are the people without whom you would have little or none of the good, indie music you profess to love.
What Jaimie says is true; in this environment you have fewer and fewer people who CAN make a living at it, which means that a lot of people will, indeed, find another way to make money. That means that you will have a few prepackaged major label bands being promoted to death and an endless stream of amateurs -- many of which may have real talent but will never develop it to its full potential because they simply don't have the time or the motivation. The talented guys in the middle will have found other things to do.
Which brings me back to the idea about "caring" about musicians. Yes, of course as a music consumer, you're going to look for the best deal, and only pay full price for what you really want to hear. And at some point the market is going to dictate what a fair price is. And if something isn't worth the money to you, well, you don't buy it. I have no quarrel with that.
What dismays me is this "I don't give a f**k" attitude by people who consume music like it's air and do not care at all about the people who provide it. It's not a question of profit. It's more "if my audience/customer base treats me like a piece of chattel to serve at their pleasure for no pay, then why should I bother going through the effort?" Making good music is a lot of work, and if, say, Michael Carpenter spends a year making an awesome record, he wants to feel like the people he's making it for don't take his product for granted. If someone is, through love, take years out of their lives and go into debt making something that other people use and enjoy, then they have a right to expect that the people who use and enjoy it at least appreciate it and give them a modicum of respect.
Put another way: if I run a restaurant and make you a nice meal, and then I give it to you on the house because you don't have that much money, I don't them expect you to be rude and patronizing to me. I'd at least like a thank you. In the music analogy, a musician is now expected to make you the best possible meal, and the prevailing attitude among some is that his/her appropriate reward is your gratitude that you bothered to eat it.
If recorded music came out with as little time and effort as taking a crap, it might well BE enough reward. Since it takes a lot more effort than that, people shouldn't be surprised if label owners and musicians get tired of that attitude and just say the hell with it and shut down. Indie musicians and labels can and will go on for years at a loss if they think there are people out there who appreciate them....but if they feel like their audience doesn't give a crap besides looking for a way to get their new album for free, why would they want to keep going? It's just not a good use of one's life.
Jaimie's not telling anybody you shouldn't be on emusic. He's saying why it doesn't make business sense for HIM. What I'm hearing is that a lot of folks don't think that matters; what only matters is their own convenience, and Jaimie should only base his business decisions to that. Jaimie's actual real world experience and needs are dismissed with a patronizing wave of a hand. That may be an oversimplification but that's the gist I'm getting. It's fine if you don't care about musicians or label owners; just don't expect them, in turn, to care about or cater to you. Because despite what you may think, it takes time and effort to make art, and they don't owe you more than you owe them.
Said with zero personal sour grapes, btw. I've been affected by all these things personally, but I'm not particularly bitter about it. I'm just calling it as I see it.
Adam Marsland
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