I love David Byrne’s music. Which is why it hurts me to read his article on The Guardian about the effect of web services on musicians (“David Byrne: ‘The internet will suck all creative content out of the world’“).
Comments on some parts of it:
“In future, if artists have to rely almost exclusively on the income from these services, they’ll be out of work within a year.”
— Well they wont. No music artist is relying on sales of his music alone for some time now. Most artists have and will be making most of their money from tours and merchandise. Perhaps David Byrne has learned to live in luxury off royalties of his great music 30 years ago but that doesn’t mean that progress has to stop. :)
“There is also, I’m told, a way to see what your “friends” have on their playlists, though I’d be curious to know whether a significant number of people find new music in this way. I’d be even more curious if the folks who “discover” music on these services then go on to purchase it. Why would you click and go elsewhere and pay when the free version is sitting right in front of you? Am I crazy?”
— Not crazy, just ignorant of a new state of how things are being done today. Educate yourself, then criticise the medium.
“I don’t have an answer. I wish I could propose something besides what we’ve heard before: “Make money on live shows.” Or, “Get corporate support and sell your music to advertisers.”
— The answer has been given already. Cut off the corporate middleman, sell directly to your fans. The Internet that you’re being afraid of, is actually the answer.
Am I being to harsh? :)
Tags: Internet, music industry, technology
