Hi all:
I received the email below from a regular p2pnet reader who for personal reasons doesn’t want to reveal her name.
In it, she suggests a2f2a is in for a “very long haul”.
Cheers!
Jon
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“Dear Jon and Billy,” says Mary, continuing >>>
I am a working English musician and composer. I would love to be a performing musician but I am someone who makes her living mainly from sessions and commercial gigs and I was interested when Jon said on p2pnet that he was starting a2f2a.com with Billy.
I have an agent, but I arrange most of my bookings myself from referrals and repeat gigs, and I also have a number of standing commitments. An accountant deals with my financial matters. I have no professional affiliations, and nor do I believe I need them.
Billy is well known here in Britain and for him to become involved in this kind of project is significant. However, I have strong doubts about whether it will be able to make a difference to anything.
Billy is as much an activist as he is a musician, perhaps even more so. In fact, one might say he uses his a high profile position to promote his political interests and agendas. This is not meant as a criticism. However, as such, he is well used to dealing with the media and expressing himself and his thoughts outside of the context of performances, and in recognising and seizing opportunities to make them known. But he is the exception, not the rule.
Billy is very a rare person and quite honestly, I doubt if you will be able to persuade more than a handful of other musicians to involve themselves in this kind of debate.
The FAC represents a small, non-representative group but because its members include well-known musicians such as Billy, it is taken in the media to be speaking for musicians at large, which of course it does not.
I commend Billy and Jon for starting this site but as Devil’s Advocate says, “The best ‘break’ Billy could use right now is participation from his fellow artists here at a2f2a. Without them, we all might as well just have continued talking on p2pnet. The question is, ‘Are they out there?’ And, do any of them support any part of what either Billy or the rest of ‘us’ have to say?”
“They are out there but this will be like herding cats and unless you and Billy can find a way to reach as many of them as you reach fans, I believe you are in for a very long haul,” Mary adds.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:03 am
I’ve been meaning to look for musicians’organisations, but I hadn’t gotten around to it. a2f2a took of a little more quickly than I’d expected, and what with p2pnet …
But I’ll do that today and if anyone knows of any that are online, please email me here – p2pnet@shaw.ca.
Cheers! And thanks …
November 8th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
It is often said, and I believe it to be true, that there are more people involved in music-making than ever before. Of those involved, a small minority do it as a way of life. Of those who do it as a way of life another small minority are contracted to the major league. They are the elite.
It is the major-leaguers who are currently most affected by copyright issues and the changes brought about by the new tech. It is not too much of an exaggeration to speculate that the elite’s days are numbered. The future is likely to be fashioned from the values and experiences of the many professionals and amateurs who are the mass majority.
I agree with what is said here and that getting the elite to dirty their hands in activism will be a hard if not impossible undertaking. Better I’d say to summon the interests of the majority. They have a stake in a very alternative future and are better placed to embrace it with a happy heart.
November 8th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Phil Pritchett is a Texas musician who has been engaging in a direct artist to fan marketing approach since 1995. 10 albums and about 150 shows a year without benefit of label support. His newest release, The Mark of the Human Hand, just came out. 3 tracks are available for free download here http://www.philpritchett.com/mp3.php The Great John West addresses the expectations of privalege and the realities for the rest of the world. Well worth investigating. I have sent Phil an inquiry to see if he is interested in contributing to a2f2a, but no response as yet. At the very least, his model is worth investigating as a workable example of a modern approach to marketing an artist’s music directly to a willing fan base.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Everything Clark just said, I agree with. This is why nothing will be done quickly. There are too many ‘featured’ artists with a large stake in keeping things the way they are, and why billy is the ONLY one talking here. The rest don’t want to hear what we have to say. Any change frightens them beyond belief.I still have hope for this project, but the fact that BB is still the only one showing up in any meaningful way speaks volumes for how much the rest of the FAC cares about what the fans think. ‘Fear of abuse’ is not a valid reason for not coming here, since it should be obvious by now that we have proven that at least WE can keep the emotional terms out of the discussion.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
“…we have proven that at least WE can keep the emotional terms out of the discussion…”
Well, we have proven that at least we’re willing to try and our intentions are good.