On music, the artist and technology

Piracy

Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom talk about this in some detail in their book The Starfish and the Spider: how piracy changed the music industry (specifically through P2P services like Napster, e-Mule and Kazaa). P2Ps created a system in which music was free and nobody was in charge, making it that harder for big labels to squash them. Big labels started losing money and making anti-piracy ads. Most of them coming across as fake and misdirected, and big-labely-like, like this one (ads that contradict something Richard Silverstein pointed out in Art & Copy, which is that in advertising, you always have to start with something true).

Leveling the playing field

The Internet (that all-encompassing word) has given artists a chance to deal with their fans in a more direct manner through places like iTunes and then Bandcamp. Many of these artists didn’t even care about piracy (like Joss Stone). In fact, they saw it as a chance for exposure (much like they’re now expected to see Spotify). Because they believed (and Brafman and Beckstrom would agree) that people, now part of a decentralized system, would actually tend to contribute—and deal with the artist directly, paying them directly for their work.

Just streaming

If you watched the Virgin Disruptors live debate this week, you heard it said that streaming was the biggest change in the music business since iTunes. But the general view on streaming seems to be that it puts artists in the same place where they were before Napster came along—owned by big labels. When Zoë Keating published her earnings in a blog post, she wrote:

“… it should not be for financial gain that an independent artist makes their music available for streaming, but instead it should be done for the purpose of exposure, etc.”.

This is made clear in another article:

HOW ZOE KEATING MAKES MONEY SELLING MUSIC

65% of her income was music sales Of those music sales, 75% were digital. Of those digital music sales 55% were from iTunes. Streaming royalties and SoundExchange combined, made up 0.25% of her annual income.

So although places like Spotify can be a way to make your music known, you won’t survive should you be forced to rely on streaming alone, as David Byrne points out, citing Chris Ruen’s book, Freeloading:

… if you yourself didn’t pay for any of the music by your favourite bands, then don’t be surprised if they eventually call it quits for lack of funds.

On our part (the people who listen to music), it’s easier than ever to support our favorite artists. For example, Songkick lets you pledge to buy tickets to see your favorite band, should they do a concert in your area of choice (also see aforementioned Bandcamps). It seems to be essential that artists take full advantage of the technology out there, and that we go out of our way to show appreciation for their work (beyond Spotify, while they work things out; see aforementioned live debate).

Which is just up will.i.am’s avenue. His main contribution to the debate was: hang with coders. He’s also all in favor of people learning to code. Which I think is great.