Out of Step (With the World)

I don't download a lot of music.  Sure, I'll buy a song here and there on Amazon, but it's usually songs I already have on vinyl or cassette.  I guess I'm helping the artists since I know there are scads of "pirates" downloading their shit for free because, you know, musicians should just serve the people and not get paid for their efforts.  In that case, I don't mind paying for something I already have because it's usually only a buck, and I believe people should be compensated for their efforts.

This isn't about the ethics of stealing music, however, this is about the days of my youth.  In particularly, what it was like trying to find new music.

Before the Internet gave you everything from bestiality to revolution with the click of a mouse, if you wanted new music you had to search for it.  This wasn't easy for a true music lover, a person who wanted to go beyond what was on the radio and MTV (back when it played videos).  This meant going on an expedition where everything avenue was explored.

I spent countless hours talking to music store employees, friends who had the same taste in music I did, and going through interviews with the bands I liked hoping a name would be dropped.  Not only did I read the interviews, but I read the thank you lists on releases and looked at photos of the band hoping someone would be wearing a t-shirt I didn't recognize.  (How many people found out about the Misfits because Metallica wore the band's shirts?  Cee Lo wasn't the first to wear one, you know.)  I read 'zines and traded tapes through the mail.  This was how I found out about new music.  I lived in an area that didn't have good record stores.  I relied on outside sources for just about everything I liked.  It was a lot harder than jumping online, but there was also something more satisfying about it.  It made the music mean something to me.  It added a sense of wonder to everything.  It's not like that now.

The Internet is a double-edged sword when it comes to music.  More people around the world can hear your band, but look at what shit is still sought after.  It's the same garbage that polluted the airwaves before.  Those who truly love music will still go out of their way to seek out quality material, but most of what gets mentioned is Ok Go.  If it weren't for an "amusing" Youtube video would anyone care about this band?  Unlikely.  This is what the Internet has done.

The good music is still out there.  Finding it now, however, means you have to swim through a sea of crap to get to it.  You have to go onto crowded Myspace pages, click on questionable links, and scour forums. You can still find the stuff if you try, but it seems like part of the thrill is gone.  When something is so easily obtained, does it hold any value for the listener?  Sadly, I think not, which is another reason stealing music irritates me.  The music has become what the major labels have been trying to make it for years -- product.  A product to be stolen and disposed of as easily as a pair of threadbare socks.

Enjoy the crap.

Let Them Eat ... Nothing!

I'm not in the norm.  I'm an Internet user, but I'm not cheap.  I actually end up paying for my music.  (Not the stuff I get for review, mind you, but the stuff I download.)  Yeah, I pay for it, and I'm more than fine with that.  And while I've bought bootlegs in the past, the bootlegs have always been of live performances or songs that were never released up until that moment.  Downloading music illegally, to me, has always left me feeling kind of cold ... something people who read me on a regular basis know.

Paul Weller of The Jam (you should know of this band) put it best in an interview in Spin.  What he said was so succinct, so complete, that I'm quoting him here, and then I'm offering a challenge.

"They fucking say the live thing is where the money is, but tell that to my mates in club bands.  They're making 100 pounds a night.  I don't know what that is in American dollars, but it's fuck all.  A lot of us are still living on baked beans, man.  The atmosphere's scary.  I don't understand this thing of people receiving music for nothing.  Whether it's unromantic or not, it's how I pay the bills.  And that shit about making an album and saying it costs nothing; that's like saying my life's work is worthless."

I imagine some people who download music without paying for it have jobs.  Why don't you go in and work for free?  That seems fair, doesn't it?  Why should it be that way for musicians?  Why should they put all kinds of physical and mental effort into creating something (which is a hell of a lot harder than flipping a burger, running a cash register or any number of other jobs) that you just then take?  Granted, some musicians don't mind, but enough do, and music fans should respect their art and craft enough to pay for it.

I like Weller's quote.  It makes sense.  Good sense.  Sure, it's hard to feel bad for Metallica crying foul, but Weller is a whole other story.  You can't say he's only after the money. 

When all those people who are illegally downloading start working for free I'll start respecting their positions more.  All of them who I know who have jobs, however, always balk when I suggest any such thing. 

Support the artists you love.  They have families to raise, bills to feed, and it's just downright respectful.  If not, you try working for free and see how you like it.  Better yet, try making a living off your creativity.  Let's see how well you can do it -- without being paid.