All Music Should Be Free

*Thanks to Steven for inviting me to contribute with posting on Reality on a Stick.

I’ve been a firm believer in free music for a long time. Cheers to Radiohead for the bold move of releasing their latest album as a free download on their website. They’re causing quite a stir with all the music industry big wigs.

The record industry is finally being quickly dismantled for its corrupt exploitation of music. They’ve spawned Pepsi products in the name of art and packaged them under the names of so called “recording artists” and such. Oh yes, the packaging is wearing very thin. Free music = Integrity. Money won’t be the major impetus for fueling the music. Instead of having to purchase a full length album with only one decent song and a slew of extra crap, you can just merely download the one hit song. It will push musicians to release full length albums worthy of release. Songs will be judged by their own merit, not necessarily because you saw that person shaking his/her booty 30 times in the past week in every form of media possible.

Free music will also help encourage bands to put on good live shows. To think that recorded music is a fairly new thing in the past 100 years or so. I love supporting the bands I like and I make it a point of going to shows and buying their merchandise. Then on the other hand, you have bands like the Rolling Stones who really don’t need another one of my hard-earned dollars. Plus, I’d be afraid they would just put it into another part of their string or brass section anyways. Ugh.

Now, with the possibilities of downloading 10 free albums or so a day, we can open our musical tastes to many different genres much more rapidly. Not to mention the fact, that many of us would be living in cardboard boxes with a stack of cds if we actually satiated our thirst by purchasing all the albums that we own.

Music, like all other forms of art should be easily accessible at all times, and equally enjoyed by all. Not just by those who can afford it. Hopefully, this revolutionary wave of ‘free music’ will be significantly mirrored in all other forms of media as well. knock knock…

Flat-Black

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This entry was written by flat-black and posted on October 9, 2007 at 3:33 am and filed under media, art, technology. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment(Latest is displayed first) or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

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9 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

I also think free music allows others to remix and cut-up existing work without the fear of being sued. The results foster creativity and innovation. The Gray Album by Danger Mouse is a good, early example of the kind of innovation that could come if the copyrights barriers come down (or if people like Danger Mouse just say fuck you to the copyright holders).

1. Brian on October 9th, 2007 at 3:51 am
Good point. Copyright laws have been stretched to ridiculous measures. It’s about time the people were put in control of the media. Hell- that’s why the 80’s were so much fun! Everything was being remixed.

2. flat-black on October 9th, 2007 at 6:14 am
Well, most artists already make most of their money from touring and merch, which the record companies don’t get a slice of. But the problem becomes distribution, how do you get the word out? Radio is dead, MTV doesn’t play music, so you’re left with pitchfork, blogs etc., which requires little or no money. Man the industry is screwed. Here’s an interesting article from the NYTimes about how Rick Ruben is trying to start something:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/magazine/02rubin.t.html?ref=magazine

Before the internet, music junkies would buy used records by the crate and sift the dusty jackets… you have to admit there’s something nice about those old sleeves. I’ve got 500 LPs and no turntable, what’s the world coming to?!

3. dpm on October 9th, 2007 at 6:28 am
P.S. about copyright: I was involved in a short lived “label” that released music online, all under a creative commons license, which is like open source but for creative media:

http://creativecommons.org/about/license/

4. dpm on October 9th, 2007 at 6:32 am
I love this analogy by Steve Albini about the major labels-

“Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what’s printed on the contract. It’s too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody’s eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there’s only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says “Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke”. And he does of course.”

5. flat-black on October 11th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Brian recommended a good book to me called, “Free Culture”, by Lawrence Lessig.

http://www.free-culture.cc/about/

Free Culture? Hmm, what a grand idea…

6. flat-black on October 11th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I think it’s about time that we attempt to identify viable alternatives current methods of packaging and controlling information–especially art. Essentially, the record and film industries have succeeded despite grossly overpriced offerings, because previously available recording mediums ensured that dubbing was relatively cumbersome and (usually) poor quality. That has changed drastically. It’s really the same reason that print media is struggling to redefine its worth. Today’s reality: Copying digital media–be it artwork, music, film, print, or otherwise–is neither cumbersome nor low-quality. The availability of low-priced/free alternatives shakes up the lopsided pricing structures that have governed analog product distribution for decades.

7. Steven Nishida on October 17th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Major labels are soo 2006.

8. flat-black on October 25th, 2007 at 3:34 am
“Major labels are soo 2006.”

LOL!

9. Steven Nishida on October 26th, 2007 at 11:53 am

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