Everybody who listens to music - everybody - knows that the music industry has undergone its most massive revolution and changes in the past 10 years than it has in 100. Just like everything else in today's world, from the clothes we wear to the latest, most fucked up sexual fetishes and so on...
...and if you're a real dumbass and got no clue why, ask yourself when was the last time you actually purchased a real CD. Actually, when was the last time you purchased music at all? Or tuned into shitty MTV channels to watch a music video...
You don't realize that every time you download a new song, you are in effect 'stealing music.' Well, that is what the CEO's of every label in the industry want you to believe. But the truth is, we're not stupid animals. We like money. And if we can save 1000 bucks downloading 10 albums off torrents, then what kind of retard wouldn't do it? I love the way we have advertisements on the tele, the ones that sum up to say 'If you download music, you are committing a crime - a crime just as ugly as stealing someone's man bag!'
Errr... Fuck off? I sat in front of my computer downloading the same file that someone else had previously bought. Sharing is caring. Now stop being a douchebag.
'Indie is the way forward'
There is one reason why the music industry is suffering, and it isn't your fault for downloading music instead of buying it. It is because of the industry's state of mind. (Someone should write a parody song of Empire's State of Mind). In fact, the music industry isn't even suffering from a lack of money! I'm pretty sure Mr. CEO of EMI music is enjoying himself on a nice Caribbean cruise somewhere, soaking in the sun and getting a nice tan. He's happy. Last year's revenue equated to something of a billion dollars. And that ain't no joke!
But music is suffering. Perhaps not the industry, but us artists, bands, musicians and listeners. Why? Well look at that Justin Bieber fucker. Or Rihanna. Even Usher nowadays sounds like his songs were written by the same songwriters who wrote everybody else's songs. The fact is, with all the media that surrounds us, people are getting stupider and losing their attention spans as time goes on, so label songwriters are out there looking for ways to keep your attention, rather than hitting you with the dope kind of complexity that the old school classics used to hit us with. Ever wonder why the lyrics of one of our last, biggest hits was 'Baby. Baby. Baby. Oh.?' It's not like Justin Bieber sits there for days in a meditation trance and writes her latest tracks without even picking up a pen. Well the latter part was true, he doesn't pick up a pen. He shows up at the studio with a coffee and a hangover and says 'so uhhh.... what kind of absurd, nonsensical crap will I be singing today?'
Now, most of my friends don't listen to Bieber, Rihanna or Britney Spears. I like to think that it's because I generally hang out with a cool, intelligent group of people who are smarter than our music industry dogs want us to be. Sure, they can keep making billions of this crappy music, and make more and more as kids get dumber, but where do we come in? Where do we find music that we like and how are the really good musicians going to survive in a shitty music industry?
'If you're in it for the money, see you later, bitch!'
Two words. Independent music. My friends may spend hours in a night just looking through youtube for a tune they can play on the way to work the next day. They forget about mainstream stuff, partly because it is becoming more and more uncool to listen to it, but also because they refuse to submit to having no choice but to listen to the lucrative Top 40 bullshit and pointless politics of the music industry. Our music industry kind of reminds me of America. It got too big and all too powerful, so now we're all waiting for it to crash and burn, and many of us will enjoy it.
Independent music is like the new movement. Eventually indie music becomes mainstream when it reaches a certain level of hype and fame, but we're not at that stage yet because if you were, you wouldn't still be reading this. Indie music is profitable. You don't deal with the leaks that often come with one of the many downfalls of signing with an actual music label. (These leaks are, by the way simply because their companies are too big. 20000 employees = 20000 unhappy, not-special employees who don't give a shit about Michael Buble). You keep your profits. You develop a relationship with the people you work with. The kind of relationship where people might say 'hey, I like you. I'll direct your next music video for free.' You don't get that kind of thing in the mainstream world. All you get is the dollars, and hopefully by now you've realized that life is much more than that.
We say that there are too many bands and artists for one world, and not all of us are going to be successful. But everybody will have a breaking point. If you're in this for the right reasons, such as passion and real love for music, then you will survive. If you're in it for the money, see you later bitch ;)
Hopefully you enjoyed my little blog post, check back tomorrow for part 2 where I'll talk shit again. This time it'll be about what to do to succeed as an indie musician and how to grow as an artist. See you tomorrow!
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