Three Strikes
Prosthetic Records is now the third label to kick Spotify to the curb. Hallelujah, Lord let the exodus continue! Following in the footsteps of Century Media and Metal Blade, Prosthetic, like the aforementioned, are vacating because they don't care for Spotify's business model.
I first came upon this tasty bit of news on (wait for it) Metalsucks. Yeah, and I made the mistake of reading some of the comments. Once again, I can't believe the lack of understanding in this community. But, as always, it comes down to entitlement. These people still can't seem to get it that they are not, in any way, entitled to the music! It's a privilege, not a right! Some of the commenters were actually bragging about illegally downloading music! (I should mention, as Jens Ryland pointed out, many of these posts may have been trolls. I have to admit, the thought that some of these commenters could actually be Metalsucks staff posing as trolls posing as genuine "fans" did cross my mind...several times...would you put it past them??)
While researching this story I came across this gem which shows the payout from various sources. Because it is so large I've cut it up into two pieces, but you can view it in full here. To view it on my page simply click each image.
There are a lot of folks over at Metalsucks and Blabbermouth who seem to be convinced that streaming audio is the future of music. Well, if this is the future then it's going to be a pretty quiet one, because smaller bands aren't going to be able to support themselves on what Spotify and their ilk are trying to pay them.
Thing is, I seem to remember a time when cassette tapes were thought to be "the future." They were so much better than vinyl records; they were going to revolutionize the industry! Uh, yeah. It's easier to get vinyl now than a cassette tape, as vinyl is making a very definite comeback with more and more musicians choosing to add vinyl to their format offerings. It's impossible to predict what "the future" is because there will always be some new innovation that makes the past seem ludicrous. But as we've seen numerous times with fashion, the past always makes a comeback.
The folks who are claiming this is the future are operating in a vacuum...and nature abhors a vacuum. I've been trying to come up with the silver bullet that will finally explain it to these people but I realize that I'm talking to a brick wall...Regardless, I'm going to give it a go.
Intellectual property is no different than physical labor; you, the bottom-dwelling Metal "fan" who works in the construction trade, selling your labor (for minimum wage) and illegally downloading music, are no different than the intellectually superior Metal musician who is selling their intellectual property to you, for less than minimum wage and getting ripped off anyway. Now you tell me, is your physical labor any more important than their mental labor? Let me help you here, the answer is NO! You want to talk about entitlement? Everyone is entitled to an honest wage and when you take something that you are not entitled to, you are robbing the people who created it of an honest wage. Would you like it if your boss made you work for free? I thought not. Then why would you make them do it?
Here's something else to think about. It seems as though you aren't willing to spend money on CD's but you are willing to spend money on concert tickets...so, if they don't have the money to go on tour because y'all are stealing their music, then what? That just makes no sense...you'll pay the same amount (or very often much more) on a concert ticket but you give birth to a farm when asked to buy a CD?! And then you spend as much as, if not more than, the cost of a CD at the show to by T-shirts and posters and whatnot, and I just love those of you who say that bands don't make any money on CD's but they make all their money on merch...well, they won't be making any money that way either if they can't tour, now will they?
People talk a lot about transparency...maybe we should have a revelation on just how much it costs a band to put out their music and go on tour because apparently y'all think it's dirt cheap!. Maybe then you'll get it?
I know it will never happen, but just once I'd like for a bunch of bands to go on strike. Like at Wacken, say...all the bands on the bill just stage a sit-in protesting the lack of support they are getting from the likes of the Metalsucks and Blabbermouth Gimme Gimme Generation. I would actually pay money to see that.
This problem isn't new, its been around digitally since the Napster fiasco (the "issue of my time" if the hype could be followed) and has some roots in tapes and radio recordings. Tapes weren't the future for sound (people hated the sound anyway, although vinyl sounding "better" is sort of a myth because it involves sounds from the record ITSELF not the production, and plus 8-tracks were more convenient since they played both ends), but they were the future for the business, both good and bad, and its extended to digital recording. Then as now, any yahoo can plug into an amp and mic and have a mix or mp3 or something. Before you had to either learn music or go to a show period. Now its easier (good and bad, diamonds in the rough can be found but there's a wholllllle lotta rough), but it was more than that.
Tape trading fueled hip hop, metal, punk undergrounds all through the 80s. Like with mp3s today, it may be the only way you get to hear Nuclear Assault or Lepra. Cheaper and faster to get out, with the hope you would by a vinyl (or later, a cd) in the future. The underground component I think is crucial here. I don't think people felt entitled,they felt lucky to have technology and wanted to use it to explore, and the bands felt the same about getting their name out. Think its hard now? Mike Smith quit Suffocation because he was always in debt. The record label/artist divide has always existed and when the label can barely keep itself afloat the bands aren't getting anything.
Ranty ranty ranty, but to the main point of now, with Napster, the main argument against Metallica was "music is free, if I want it I should have it", not "I'm glad this new technology exists so I can find other obscure stuff too." If no one had to pay a dime for Paris Hilton, they wouldn't. They don't value it or respect, and as well they shouldn't, but they don't value or respect Beethoven either. Its like gang tagging versus street art, one values property or space or aesthetics, the other just wants to piss on things for territory.
That's the problem I think now, metal has become infested with hipsters who think themselves entitled to what "I should have if I want it." If the audio section of DLA, or megaupload or whatever shut down tomorrow, it would be inconvenient, but it would not be a violation of rights or such things. It was that way before, it can be that way again.
Demilich put all their stuff online as a way to fight their label, but of course they aren't as beholden to a label anymore since they are no longer around. But long term, they see the technology as an existing tool for the art, not as some great messiah for the poor oppressed masses. I view it the same way, its an oppurtunity to discover bands across the world I can't find so easily. I think it can work together like radio has. Stephen Perkins (drums, Janes Addiction) said at a drum clinic I attended (during the napster uproar) that he believes digital sharing or whatnot will be the new radio and I think it can work that way. Spotio or whatever isn't the first to do this type of program, but if their business practices are foul for lower income labels they are right to pull away.
I'm with Metallica on this issue, and their position was always abused by idiots from the beginning (and over such a horrible song "I Disappear"). I prefer hard copies, becaus eI love supporting bands I love, and its reverential to have more than just a digital file. I'm also a whole album guy, not a singles/itunes person. Its a whole vision not just a bunch of hits. I think modern technology helps that, because you can sift through the bad and good more easily, but, to Metallica's point, I don't believe in just grabbing leaks wherever. A band should be able to release what it wants when it wants, I am not entitled to their work. That was the issue then, someone at Napster literally stole a file and sent it to radio stations.
Where the downloading to me isn't problematic is in the case of bands long gone and records out of print. I can't find Morpheus Descends anywhere I can trust to send my money, and as a radio dj they are too important to leave off my program, so its any way I can get it. I don't like robbing bands, sometimes its the only way, or sometimes its a lose lose scenario.
Blah blah. But as some existing middle ground, I like the youtube format. Its "free" so you can surf and discover, but you still have to buy to have the hard copy. That way quality can still go up (greatness is rewarded) without having the pit of KazAA or whatever. Metal fans, real metal fans, still buy Vinyl records. Its actually one of the only genres to not really suffer during the download era considering its size relative to Lady Gaga, although a lot of local shops close down which is sad. Metal needs more Heavy Metal shop, not more FYE. Real fans still like having the hardcopy for the art, the history, the reliability and other things, and real fans still support the stuff. The problem is the people who don't value it at all and just want free junk. If they want to bankrupt Jessica Simpson, fine with me, but their weight pulls down all.
Sorry for this being so incredibly long.
Okay, after reading all that I've come away with the understanding that you essentially agree with me. Which is good, cuz I wouldn't like to have to ban you from my life for being a bottom-feeder.
I also hear what your saying regarding technology and I never actually said that tech was bad. I agree that technology is good, when it's used appropriately.
I also understand what you're saying as far as out-of-print material. I'm not entirely black-and-white, I found a great Swedish band called, Damien, whose stuff is apparently out of print and I did download what I could find. You mentioned that YouTube is a great format for finding new music, but it still essentially requires you to ultimately by the product because (unless you have Real Player Downloader or something of the sort) you can't download the music and put it on your mp3 player.
That's okay, I don't have a problem with people FINDING new music that way, the problem I have is when these same people ONLY use that method to get their music; when they have absolutely no intention of ever actually paying for it. And especially the ones who go and brag about illegally downloading all their music because they don't like the idea that they have to pay for it.
The thing is, these people would no doubt be the first to crucify a shoplifter because shoplifters force store prices up to cover the cost of the stolen property! They don't understand that they are doing the same thing, and part of the reason they don't get it is because the prices for music don't go up to cover the cost of stolen material.
And in this scenario who ultimately winds up losing? All of us. But mostly the musicians because many of them are so dedicated that, unlike Mike Smith, they will continue to put up with being in debt because they believe in what they are doing.
Maybe some don't understand the interest I have in this because I'm not a musician, but my ex-husband is an artist and he spent years doing jobs he hated because he believed that nobody would ever pay him for his art. That makes me sad. I don't want any artist, either visual or musical, to have to put their art away because they believe that nobody will pay them for it.
