Its all very well to say:

“that instead of hundreds of artists making millions of pounds, we can now have millions of artists making hundreds of pounds (and a straight, shallow line on the curve up from there), we’re all in good shape.”

But we’re not in a good shape though are we. The UK Music industry IS in freefall.

I along with many other artist friends and small label friends are struggling to do anything at all in this current climate. I spoke with a singer-songwriter friend this morning who is currently out selling Gas(!) in order to make ends meet and feed her 2 year old baby. She used to be out touring with major acts as a backing singer as a way of making her main living. She was telling me how terrible she feels having to spend all her time doing jobs she doesnt want to do just to make ends meet which then leave her too tired when she gets home to be in any kind of creative mood.

For an artist is like a living death to not be able to do the things which youre drawn to do.

Being an artist isnt just what we do its WHO we are.

Having an army of teens knocking out tracks willy nilly and earning £100 a year does not an artist make.

Its fine for the bedroom boys (and girls) but the genuine artists are dying a death out here at the moment

I think your method is more powerful – sometimes I just tend to skip ahead to the effect and neglect the reasons why they should be.

Music can be locked in a dungeon without food or water for a hundred years. That’s fine. Really. Don’t worry, the music can take it.

What is far more important is to liberate PEOPLE, to restore to people their natural right to share and build upon music, their right that was suspended in the 18th century.

It’s the people who need their cultural liberty, not the culture itself. It’s people who decide whether to keep their compositions private or to make them public. But, when they do make them public, they should not have a privilege attached that enables immortal publishing corporations to manacle the hands of the people, to persecute or imprison them, or to exclude them from the Internet.

People need their liberty TODAY. Not in 150 years. Not in 35 years. Not even in 14 years.

Pandora is a great example. Instead of effectively shutting it down by demanding massive royalties, whether or not they make “profit” from having ads on the site, liberating music would allow them to operate however they want. This ultimately is good for the artist because Pandora’s algorithm is designed around helping people discover new music based on what they already like. It narrows the search, increasing the likelihood that an artist will convert an audience member into a fan.

Blogs and other music sites are powerful as well – the recommendation of somebody who has credibility in a community is extremely powerful. He or she serves as an intermediary between searching audiences and new music. Previously this was something you would pay significant money for (and it existed as a one-way conduit) – now it’s an equitable relationship.

Audience=potential fans, auditioning and seeking music.
Fan=someone who’s discovered some music they like, and the artist thereof.

Audiences pay artists with their attention.
Fans pay artists with their money.

Exactly.

Cheers!

Pandora is an example of a discovery agent.

Artists liberate the public to share their music, and so make themselves as easy to discover as possible. The audiences then have the task of finding the music they like, and the respective artists they would commission to produce more.

Audience=potential fans, auditioning and seeking music.
Fan=someone who’s discovered some music they like, and the artist thereof.

Audiences pay artists with their attention.
Fans pay artists with their money.

I agree. Promotion will NEVER die, only what is being promoted changes though the years.

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2009/11/today-only-you-can-get-shatnerquake-forfree.html

Note from author Jeff Burke ..

Thank you for devoting some of your precious internet tubing to the downloading of my first book, Shatnerquake.

The internet has allowed us all so many opportunities to share with each other. To resist this is to resist the future. Others may attempt to block this forward progression with lawsuits and file protection. I, instead, want to do what I can to contribute to this wonderful digital community.