a2f2a

Jon, here. Shortly before a2f2a went online, I did a post on p2pnet called Music in the 21st century: framing the debate. It outlined the main goals Billy and I had, and still have, in mind.

My long-suffering wife, Liz, posted a Reader’s Write in which she said, “I may be wrong, but one thing I have not seen in any posts following the above article, or any time I have been on the site, is the question of what artists are earning.”

She went on >>>

Everybody knows that until an artist hits the big times they earn sod all, so I’m talking about the heavy weights.

There are a couple of reasons I raise this question.

First, in my performance going days I used to see mainly classical concerts until the day came when I couldn’t really afford to see the kinds of artists I liked. Concert tickets in the range of $70-$100 just weren’t in my budget. Now I know popular music is in general less expensive, but is there anybody out there who thinks that music is being priced out of their budget?

And again, I think we all agree that at $1 per download iTunes is highway robbery.

I also remember when Jon wrote about the then upcoming English chanteuse Joss Stone receiving diamonds for her birthday from her recording label.

I thought that was really in bad taste, especially as it was I think about the same time that the recording industry was going, fangs bared, after Patti Santangelo and family.

Nobody is denying that artists, especially those who really achieve worldwide fame, have special talents, but are their special talents that much more valuable than those of many other people? Jon has a special talent for finding news and presenting it in an interesting way, but his income is in no way commensurate with the amount of time and brainpower he has to expend every day. Would we value our great artists less if their income level was brought down from stratospheric heights?

“And perhaps the music world could become more balanced by giving a little less to the big names in order to give something to the worthy struggling artists,” Liz added.

With that in mind, Digable1, a software programer and musician, recently signed up with a2f2a. But before that, he and I had a short email conversation, and one of the things he suggested we need to do is >>>

Find the actual numbers and levels that we are asking for from fans to sustain the eco-system.

The real one, not the 3-houses-in-malibu one.

And communicate those real numbers to both the fans and the artists.  No hyperbole allowed on either side of these numbers.

Indeed.

Jon Newton