Sorry I couldn’t resist. Any way nice way to distort my argument. I’m not saying you should pay me simply because I love what I am doing. Do you even have the ability to think logically? I’m simply stating if you want my services or my product you should pay for it just like any other service/product.

Music is no different, on the contrary music is far more important to most people. Tell someone to go a week without coffee or TV and they can do it. Most would happily try in an attempt to break bad habits and better themselves personally. But tell them to go a week without listening to ANY music and they could not (dare I say WILL NOT) do it.

Music has become a staple of American culture. It is everywhere. This is not about me, I use myself as an anecdotal example because I know first hand from experience and can speak intelligently on the matter. This is about every single person who does the work creating music. Just as an author gets paid for every book sold, so should musicians.

I can’t even believe people are honestly debating this. Since when does time NOT equal money? Do you work for free? Do you NOT demand a paycheck? The entire concept of hourly wage was devised because of the fundamental idea that everyones time is valuable.

Now this is not nor should it be construed as an argument in support of the outdated dinosaur that is the recording industry, I think a larger pool of smaller labels could do the job better. And I think CDs should be dropped for digital distribution in the same vain as iTunes but without the DRM crap.

It is however an argument on behalf of working musicians who deserve to be compensated for that work (providing someone wants their product/service) the idea that music should be 100% free is fine for larger bands who can survive on ticket and merchandise sales. Which I don’t believe can be sustained considering the average stage show costs thousands of dollars to put on.

Smaller bands who play free shows to get exposure in the hopes people will buy enough merch and CDs they can afford the gas to their next show, cannot function in such a system.

And sure I’ll be happy to provide a link to my band. Since a Russian site linked to my comments on this blog as a big news story it can only help. Our 2nd CD which I personally recorded in a studio I personally BUILT with my own two hands (and a couple of nail guns) using my hard earned money is almost out.

I also designed the site myself.

http://www.LosersOfTheYear.Net

Look, folks – whatever you think about the above scenario, here’s some facts:

$30k isn’t a huge budget for a record, it’s fairly modest. Studio time & professional talent cost money, and making a record usually takes more than a day or two.

No one – NO ONE – in the business can tell you what’s going to sell & what isn’t. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar. For every successful record by marginal talent, there are dozens of them made by talented people that just don’t sell. Fact is, the record biz was founded by guys who knew good music, but were willing to just put stuff out there & see what took. The big successes balanced the investment in the others.

It was sometime later that they figured out that they could engage a massive hype machine & sell people shit music using the wisdom of P.T. Barnum.

Making music takes lots of time & money. Yes, you do it for love – but some people would like to make back some of their investment, or even – gasp! – make a living doing what they love, and that’s fair enough. Do you like your job? Would you go if they stopped paying you?

Gigs, unless you have a following & travel a lot, don’t pay that much – ESPECIALLY when you’re playing original music. Ask any bar band who struggles to get to the stage of getting a few hundred a night. The ones who make real money either have developed a large following (after great personal investment) OR play cover tunes, because all the music lovers out there would rather get drunk to songs that they already know.

Yeah, it’s a good idea to get into recording your own stuff to some degree. However, there is also a BIG difference between a bedroom recordist & a professional audio engineer, who has also studied their craft & worked many, many long hours to learn what all those knobs & mics & boxes are supposed to do, and what to do when they don’t. Don’t think that having ProTools at home is a substitute for what a professional can do – going out & buying an expensive scalpel does not make you a doctor.

Think music should be free? It is. Every one of you is free to grab an an instrument & make as much as you want. Really, please do – then maybe you’ll realize there’s actual value in it.