2008: Revolution

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:46 pm

I've left off posting this for a while, but here's various snippets from high profile sources that's telling of what I believe, that Mass Media is at the cusp of a revolution. With the meteoric rise of P2P and the social networks, the internet can no longer be ignored by studios/distributors or artists/producers. And I'm glad to be a part of this, for 5 years now since I've started isoHunt. I'll let the articles and quotes below speak for themselves:

Madonna Ditches Label, Radiohead Go Renegade: The Year The Music Industry Broke

Quote:

Make no mistake about it, 2007 was a b-a-a-a-d year for the industry. According to Nielsen SoundScan, album sales were down 15 percent from 2006 (a trend that's continued for eight straight years now); big-name artists jumped ship in increasingly complicated — and messy — ways; and the powers-that-be seemed to get even more heartless and disconnected, thanks to a series of lawsuits, feuds and terrible decisions.

In fact, you could probably say that 2007 was Year Zero. Things started to change because they couldn't possibly get any worse.

In the first installment of our three-part series on the future of the music industry that is rolling out this week, here's a blow-by-blow recap of just how bad the year was ...

David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars

David Byrne wrote:

What is called the music business today, however, is not the business of producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over. But that's not bad news for music, and it's certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists.

Hollywood script writers go on strike (and plans direct distribution of films based on their scripts on the internet)

Writers wrote:

"The internet is a place where they can't maintain control," he said. "They are trying to introduce an old-school control-orientated way of thinking into a system that rejects and repels that tradition of control."

Don't fear the pirates (echoes points from Lessig's Free Culture on how "piracy" shaped our culture in the past, and has a few quotes from me). Bolded emphasis below mine:

Quote:

Cable television provides a perfect example of how the embrace of a supposedly "pirate" technology can change an industry. Cable TV started life as a "community antennae" that was capable of pulling in broadcasts from far greater distances than were possible with a regular roof antennae or a set of rabbit ears. Local broadcasters saw this as an immediate threat and launched lawsuits. In the end, not only did cable win out, it managed to create a market for a paid subscription service where a free service had existed in the past.

Those who fear that today's youth are being trained that music or movies can be had for free would be wise to consider the cable subscription model. Consumers are willing to abandon free services if a new technology can give them more choice, better quality and greater convenience.

Quote:

Marco sent a letter of support to Google, which quickly made its way around the Internet. In it, she tells a story of being challenged by someone about giving away her work for free. "What if someone Xeroxed your book and was handing it out for free on street corners?" the person asked her.

Marco's reply: "Well, it seems to be working for Jesus."

And from the horse's mouth (so to speak), thoughts from J.J. King (Jamie), film producer of Steal This Film:

Jamie wrote:

You might call 2007 'The Year That Music Died... And Was Born Again'. This is really a question of the old distribution systems -- and the business models that went with them -- shrivelling, while people wake up to the opportunities implied by the new ones. In a way, we've just been lucky with STEAL THIS FILM, because we were among the first people to make a film specifically for distribution over BitTorrent. In the near future, there's going to be whole heaps better stuff than STF coming down the P2P pipes, as creators get wise to the fact that this is where their future is, and they'd better start investing time and energy into it. After them, the smart money is going to follow.

Part of this is about getting creatives to see that their best chance lies in giving away their work to as many people as want it, not trying to create scarcity because of some deluded idea of a 'business model'. What might not be clear to outsiders right now is how much energy the 'pirate' communities are putting into thinking about how to remunerate artists in a post-scarce information environment. I know of no-less than FOUR pre-TechCrunch projects in this exciting area, and I can say I've never been more optimistic about the opportunities for new creators than I am at the start of 2008. It's an exilherating time to be a musician or a filmmaker. Now, if only someone will create an ebook reader without DRM we'll be able to say the same for literature too... Wink

Indeed, the revolution is about how technologists like us, can help provide the mechanism for producers like Jamie to find a market and audience, and connect with and among consumers like you to find what you want. And then of course, with the internet by nature peer-to-peer, many of you are producers as well. "Media literacy" as Lessig calls it, media that's no longer broadcasted from ivory towers in read-only, but also written by the masses. What I find most exciting is how P2P and social networks is shaping how we come to know and produce music, TV, movies and literature... culture itself.

And since Jamie asked for it, steal his film here or there. If you like it, support his next projects by donating there. His next endeavor to document intellectual property as the Oil of the 21st century is worth supporting.

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:13 pm

its because of all the limewires and such that are out there...im sorry to say but its so much easier to download then to buy

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:14 pm

dcugini3 wrote:

its because of all the limewires and such that are out there...im sorry to say but its so much easier to download then to buy

An mp3 is 1 tenth the quality at 128 than CD quality files or .wav i believe. So to download that kind of quality, people should only have to pay one tenth the price.

Riaa tries to scare people with their numbers, i forget if it was the CRIA (canadian, or riaa leaning towards CRIA right now) they said "physical" music sales were down 30-40 percent blah blah blah. But the thing is i e-mailed them and i said ok, what about people buying off of Itunes in the states from Canada, or used cd's, or electronically purchased songs through other mediums that may actually be based in Canada.

Don't forget the record companies claimed the same thing when i was requesting songs on the radio and taping them for my walkman, and in a day where there is no casettes, even tho mp3's are only slightly clearer, the record companies want their greedy hands involved because they lost money on the phyiscal sales even tho itunes is just fine. Not to mention there are many more genres and nothing is a fixed cool thing anymore like the beetles were regarded in their time (you don't listen to the beatles, then you weren't cool basically unelss you liked someone harder like the Stones and were a greaser, like today much?) and the constant fighting between Rock and Rap, and many people were fed up of how the industry treats rock music like i am. Why would i want to give any money to an industry that i already poured my money into only to find my favourite video channels (whom are payed by record labels per song they play, a story in Vancouver is how a record company was paying so much for playing Eminem songs on a non rap station that they played it on Modern Rock channels throughout the country, absolute bullshit, espescially on that specific station 99.3 the FOX the FOX ROCKS!) have sold me out and the #1 selling music genre since 1987, as they do every year, for the sheer shit that is MTV and Muchmusic. Will i ever support this or give record companies any money for them to continue doing this? Hell no.

OH and one last thing, Milli Vanilli, and Ashlee Simpson.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:12 am

amen

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:38 pm

easier to download? really? hehe I think thats the point thats been made:

We are a bunch of people that have moved to the next generation of lazyness..oh sorry i mean "convienience" LOL.

Seriously though alot of it does come down to the ease of it all, if it's that easy why try fight it anyways? If the "pirate" debate hadn't been raging on and divding peoples attention maybe just maybe the industry might have realised what was happening arounf them. no not pirates..the next gen consumer. And the next gen way of buying..same reason why blockbuster got left dead in the water. We dont cry when other industries get outdated. The music industry/film needs only to wake up, let go of the control they lost a while back anyways and start understanding the new order of things....see? the customer IS ALWAYS F_ING RIGHT!

As a small time film producer myself this whole deal could mean that barring the money i need to create certain things, I could have the same chance to hit a mass audience as anyone else, i would have to be CHOSEN by the masses. But it's better than the way it is now, im locked out of the industry and the "masses" have thier stars picked FOR THEM.

Lets have an even playing field..then we will see how sought after some of these artist's are, when they have some competition from the previously "gagged".

There will be a day when something i write makes sense...not today it seems...........

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:43 pm

IH wrote:

Jamie wrote:

...Now, if only someone will create an ebook reader without DRM we'll be able to say the same for literature too... Wink

Fortunately, someone did. Say no to kindle drm lock-in, say hi to multi-format, partially open-source linux-based iliad reader (read and write via built-in wacom tablet) pdf's, html, txt, lit coming soon, ..., anything supported by mobipocket.com's reader:

http://www.irextechnologies.com/

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:43 pm

You have it? It's pricey but read/write and linux-ness makes it best in class by spec. Battery life quoted on it is shorter than others though, Kindle included.

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:47 am

It never ceases to amaze me how many excuses/justifications/alternative-definitions,etc... that people can come up with to negate the fact that they just want something for nothing. Hey, I'M not ashamed to admit that if you're gonna give it away, then I'M gonna take it. It's human nature! It's ANIMAL nature! Hell, it's just NATURE!

I've got somewhere around 20,000 odd media files, for which I didn't pay a single penny. Did I steal them? The 'industry' says so. But I don't remember kicking any doors down to get them. People gave them to me freely. And if I feel like giving away my entire library to millions of people that I don't even know, without offering the industry a single penny of compensation; then I WILL DO EXACTLY THAT, and I won't feel the least bit guilty about it! And I'm betting that a lot of people reading this would say exactly the same thing (IF they had any balls).

Copyright is a word game. It protects the "other criminals". You know who they are: they're the ones still selling Elvis CDs. So, GET REAL!!!

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:45 am

HA! I think it felt VERY much like Year Zero...
2008 tis the year we supposively 'run out' of oil...
I'm just glad I survived 2007!

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:57 am

music is made for the fans. and those who dont make music for the fans make music that is probably not worth listening too.
in my humble opinion.
and they make too much money anyway!

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:25 am

in all honesty.. If I had an album out there I'd be damn well flattered that ppl would want it enough to (as the RIAA says) steal it...

What pukes me about the whole situation is the stars saying "HEY look those thieves are stealing food outta my kids' mouths" (Dr. Dre) while in the same breath brag about the 50K they just dumped into the supple blue leather in their pre-release escalade and the other cars in their fleet that no normal mortal could afford (Nelly)

I could live good making 1/10th of what they make in a year.
REAL good

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:53 pm

I think its about dang time that the listeners win. All the people who makes millions off CD sells have been fighting this change for awhile, and its nice to see that us listeners are making progress in fighting for our rights to listen to shared music. Smile

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:13 pm

isakill wrote:

in all honesty.. If I had an album out there I'd be damn well flattered that ppl would want it enough to (as the RIAA says) steal it...

Indeed.
And majority of the time it's not the musicians who bitch, because their music is getting out there, it's the people distributing it.

However, I DO pay for everything I download.
I have a cable bill.

Just give the bastards a cut of that, and let everyone be happy.

When people like something enough, they WILL buy it.
People aren't just going to go out and buy some shit first, they want to know it's good before they go spending their (hard) earned loot on it.

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:40 pm

the people who's work we "steal" aren't even musicians. The musicians are the ones starving in some run down apartment till they land a gig. all these rappers talk about being from the streets and being real when they don't have a clue what it is like. Any real musician would love to have people support them or even just to like their music. F*ck all the successful people who care about a few unppaid for cds.

Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 12:52 am

Dr Dre can well and truly go and f**k himself. Very Happy