2 things on tap for today
1. My eagles play the vikings and well........you know what that means.......BAD NEWS FOR THE VIKINGS!
After a rather up and down season for my football birds has me wondering what the hell is on tap for todays game. THEY are nuts they look like total shit one week and then the next week they beat the dallas cowboys 44-6! ( which by the way was the closest thing to a religious experience I fell in all of 2008 )
and now for my next thing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/arts/music/28pareles.html?pagewanted=2
have you read this? This is interesting to me. Obviously I fall in the category where as an indy artist I find a bit of my success. I have always had a bit of a weird feeling about the new york times music section. let's face it they usually only write about Philip Glass or Rufus Wainwright........once even about rufus shopping for a broach. So , I don't really look to the times to inform me to be honest. Call me bitter or whatever you like but it just feels like the paper has such a blinders on agenda and snottiness to it. But that's just me. Obviously if they decided to write about me for a change I might change my tune....hahahaha.....Im such a mimbo.
Anyway. the gist of the article is talking about how music has really turned into something used for tv commercials and marketing for video games. How major artist and indy artists alike look for what's called music licensing to help add to their bottom line. It's VERY OLD news.....very very very old news. As a matter of fact I sort of don't even understand why the piece is news wothy. It of course has the obligatory mention of how MOBY licensed all of his music from "PLAY" a decade old story. The one angel I understand is that labels JUST do not sell music anymore. It's a real fact. Sure itunes has sold 5 billion tunes since 2003......but think about that for a minute. 5 billion divided by the 300 million people that live in this country for example is only really 16.6 tracks per person over the course of 6+ years.......NOT EXACTLY something to write home about when you consider folks very very commonly used to buy maybe conservatively 10 albums a year ( mind you , I suck at math and welcome being wrong about this.....but I think it is right ) So itunes , it not really making a dent in the fact that people just DO NOT BUY ALBUMS
SO..............................................
is a band like SANTOGOLD selling out by letting someone use their music for a beer commercial? They arent going to get radio play........they aren't going to get on mtv , they aren't going to get any love from BEST BUY probably.......what it comes down to is THEY ARE SIMPLY NOT GOING TO GET ANYWHERE without getting some help from ad agency's and or company's. I submit that MILLER or BUDWEISER could easily go into the record business and put out music and it would be a smart marriage. They would know more about their user and the end buyer than any record company. Especially now a days. THE REASON why Starbucks venture in music has basically failed is because they hired music business professionals to run it, who after a little bit of success crawled so far up their own asses thinking they were "the new black" that well.....we got stuck with Paul McArtney albums and Carly Simon albums to buy.
What is indy cred in 2009? what does that mean in 2009 if you cannot pay your rent and make your label who has signed you, given you money to make an album that you have to pay back with an interest rate of upwards of 88% no incoming money to offset essentially the loan they've given you to make the record in the first place. INDY CRED doesn't feed SANTOGOLD. WE GOTS TO EAT MR PARELES.
So, as I want to be hip, I also want to be responsible. What irks me is that maybe the members of SANTOGOLD have children to feed? Maybe they have a sick parent? Maybe they just want to be able to continue to fund a career in the arts and well if Miller Genuine Draft wants to help them, why the fuck do you care? What makes it news?
It's easy for me to be sensitive about this. I've worked outside of the major record business for years. I get it. I built my own little house out of bricks. But when Metallica , Chris Brown , Madonna , Guns and Roses all let their music get used in a different way. So be it. its not news. It's called a paradigm shift and btw.........IT HAPPENED A DECADE AGO. AS far as Im concerned it happened much much longer ago than that......it happened when MICROSOFT used the rolling stones ( THE ULTIMATE SELL OUTS?!?!? ) us "Start me up " for Windows '95
Im just confused. Long gone is the artist development of make 3-4 albums , build a fan base and and sell records looking for the time for your breakout album. IT DOESNT HAPPEN. But what does happen , sometimes, is a nice story like a band like MY MORNING JACKET who in despite having NO airplay, NO licensing , NO mtv.......still crawled up out of the mire and now can happily say they played MADISON SWAURE GARDEN this past new years eve and can pay their bills.
So in closing, instead of writing about how artists , by finding alternative ways to create money for themselves and for their labels with licensing and being somewhat snotty about it and finding something wrong with it. Why dont you write about artist nobody knows about yet and write about their art. Im sure you do more often than not, but I cant help but think an article like this, feeds the problem instead of starving the problem of illegal downloads. If I wasnt in the music business I would be inclined to steal more music than ever now thinking, hey......they're now selling out and all making money licensing and now officially "SELL OUTS" so why bother buying their music. They're fine on another end now. GUESS WHAT....THEY AREN'T.....All the majors are scrambling for any money they can find, the recession that everyone is now talking about that started in Dec of '07 has actually existed in the music business since easily 4th quarter 2000......Welcome TO OUR WORLD let us make some money.....and not be judged.....BTW,everyone shoots for licensing, indies, majors unknowns.....Its been this way for eons and with the economy the way it is, those fees have dropped tremendously. SO THANK YOU NEW YORK TIMES........thanks for coming down to where I work and peeing in my coffee. Im sure the next beer commercial i'm offered instead of money Im gonna get 3 six packs and some lap dances. So, in lieu of all of this , I eagerly look forward to your next article about rufus wainwright's wardrobe HATS OFF
thanks for the help
love,
be well,
MOWO!™