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Who cares about iTunes (Rant)
Author: Inoyun on July 20 2007 Viewed 3559 times. 10 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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I want to preface this with respect to all music groups as this is just on my mind and not directed at any particular artist but at the same time everyone in general:
So here we are...face to face...a couple of silver...WAIT!!!!
Thats not what I wanted to say. But it does resonate with the point I will make in a sec. EM411 was shown to me as one of the 'Better' forums to discuss and share music and music related topics and I have been happy with EM411 every time I come here (literally..J/K maybe you missed that one...anyway)
So here we all are, subscribing to a slice of the American Dream which is the dream of the self, all wrapped up in our ideas of self promotion and self accomplishments and we are getting pretty damn good at it.
Piracy has forced the hand that provides movies and music to the consumer faster than we ever could have lobbied for legally and if it were still up to Sony, we'd still be paying $75 for ET on VHS. Point is that we all are succeeding at creating the alternate revenue stream in the market. Revenue in the form of information and intangible goods such as music. So we've done it...Yey!...(sniff)
So whats the big frikin deal with everyone getting on the iTunes bandwagon already? There are a gazillion, a frikin gazillion other ways to distribute your tracks. I am a part of forums and groups that have for YEARS supported the free distribution of free music and the communication of styles and techniques that enhance ones creation of musical thought. Now its like there is the big push to, in a way, go against the very grain that has developed the minds belonging to such forums.
I fully am aware and am in agreeance that iTunes is 'just another avenue' to get your music out, but I've been seeing this huge push lately to move from the distribution of free music to that of making money off of ones music. If there are no more original ideas (arguably) then what does it mean to offer more non originality to the world that others have to pay for?
It is unfolding just as it should, as TS Elliot would say "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.", except now we can add "And we are going to make some fucking money along the way too". We are coming out against the grain, creating what then becomes mainstream and then all memorizing in a sick way the looping memory that eventually becomes the equivalent of POGS (Remember those? Where did those go?) or the main theme to 'Silver Spoons' or 'Different Strokes' or whatever novelty-esque media theme you can insert here.
Is music becoming one big jingle that we are all trying to write? Fucking Capitalism.
(Sigh)
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07/20/07
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ignatius
agreeance is not a word. ;)
link
itunes is just another avenue. easy for people who use itunes. another thing to link to. i always direct people to other (smaller/local/independent) places first for better quality downloads or direct CD purchases supporting the artists more directly and cutting out middle men.
i'm not going to attempt to speak about the industry. people just do what they do. electronic music is a niche and the kind of stuff popular on this site is a niche in a niche w/few exceptions. we can't all be like that architect in 'the fountainhead'.
07/20/07
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Zanf
piracy didnt alter the business model of the major labels. the evolution of a new distribution method did.
itunes is the mcdonalds of digital distribution - it looks all glossy and that but it just fucks up your insides.
07/20/07
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license
iTunes has yet to have any effect on me besides being frustrated about trying to uninstall it when it was bundled with Quicktime. thankfully, it isn't anymore. so hopefully it will continue to exist in a universe completely separate from me, however near it may be.
07/20/07
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mlbot
pogs are back, in Alf form
07/20/07
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airliner
07/20/07
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ignatius
thanks airliner. this is great:
"Here's the back story. The music companies are in a dying business, and they know it. Sure, they act all cool because they hang around with rock stars. But beneath all the glamour these guys are actually operating two very low-tech businesses. One is a form of loan-sharking: they put up money to make records, then force recording artists to pay the money back with exorbitant interest. The other business is distribution. They’ve got big warehouses and they control the shipment of little plastic boxes that happen to have music in them."
07/20/07
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sohcahtoa
Together, we’re going to find our way.
Together, taking the time each day.
To learn all about those things you just can’t buy.
07/20/07
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bbwax
i enjoyed this blog. this was great. i think you should come back and post a running series of similarly themed followup blogs.
1. "who care about the cdr you sold?"
2. "who cares about the show you played?"
3. "who cares about the deal you signed?"
4. "who cares about the studio you opened?"
5. "who cares about the mixing job you got?"
6. "who cares about the software you sold?"
7. "who cares about that bent stompbox you sold?"
8. "who cares about the band tshirt's you sold?"
07/20/07
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bbwax
you're a ray of sunshine and you've touched my heart.
07/20/07
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Inoyun
"piracy didn't alter the business model of the major labels. the evolution of a new distribution method did." -Zanf
So whats DRM then? DRM is a direct result of the impact of piracy would you agree?
07/20/07
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energygiant
dont blame capitalizzzm, you dirty red
07/20/07
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ignatius
DRM is slowly going bye bye.. or at least you can pay for the option of avoiding it on itunes for some releases.
07/20/07
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p1ay3rtw0
good blog!
here's a blog title for you :who cares about you and your proper vocabulary? it's the interweb. new words and acronyms are made up every day.
07/20/07
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ignatius
here's a blog for you. go away!
god forbid i have a little fun.
07/20/07
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Zanf
so Inoyun, piracy didnt exist before digital distribution? Does this ring any bells with you? link
What brought the 'piracy' issue to the forefront was that the music/movie industry then started to label it as "theft" whereas, by definition, it was "replication".
As stated in that article that airliner linked:
But beneath all the glamour these guys are actually operating two very low-tech businesses. One is a form of loan-sharking: they put up money to make records, then force recording artists to pay the money back with exorbitant interest. The other business is distribution. They’ve got big warehouses and they control the shipment of little plastic boxes that happen to have music in them.
Once the deluge opened up with swift digital distribution, they started to lose both footholds that they had. DRM was a vain attempt to try anbd control this distribution. the piracy aspect didnt worry them too much - if people did pirate their artists, they then got either got into them and bought the albums, went to gigs, bought the tshirt & merch at the gigs, or deleted the tapes and never bothered with them again - which didnt bother the labels too much as they would promote another artists that wasnt too unsimilar to the previous one but might just tap into the 'fan' they miss on the last cycle.
DRM was a vain attempt to control the method of distribution - to add the faux 'seal of approval' that the cartel thought that they offered so that people who couldnt see through their facade, would continue to keep buying from them, rather than embracing this new, revolution form of distributing and sharing music and ultimately, information.
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