Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> ____/ [H]omer on Sunday 27 January 2008 19:41 : \____
>
>> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>>
>>> The Charlatans Pull a Radiohead
>>
>> At the time, I recall the naysayers claiming this was just an anomaly.
>> Obviously it was rather more than that.
>>
>> NIN went a step further by actually releasing the "source" (master
>> tracks), and encouraging rebuilding (remixing).
>>
>> http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/11/universal-music.html
>> http://remix.nin.com/
>>
>> Looks like the future is in Free, user-generated content, much to the
>> media moguls' chagrin, I'm sure.
>
> ATM they attempt to change laws, just as Microsoft tries to introduce software
> patents and make unsubstantiated claims. Be prepared to argue with bribed
> politicians.
>
The bands can make money by touring and playing live (recall what music
was before recording was possible).
The BPI/RIAA companies have based their models on selling recordings.
Interestingly, the 1970s film "Slade in Flame" as on BBC4 a few days
ago. Whilst it was a little surprising to see Noddy and gang looking
so, err, young (again). The film is a pretty good exposé on how the
music industry was working at the time, with an excellent performance by
a very young Tom Conti, amongst others. Essentially, their channels
were teen magazines ("... this means 2 million wet knickers... "),
independent radio (Caroline etc) plus top of the pops.
A bit of promotion, and a silver disc in the hand of the band, more
photos, and lots of touring.
The modern version seems to involve videos produced at phenomenally
high-cost, images which remain in the video for a maximum of 2 seconds,
often much less, lots of attractive and somewhat erotic poses, rather
like a heavily cut 1970s soft porn film, with studio-produced vocals
(ie., autotuned, because none of them can actually sing in tune), plus
session musicians playing the actual music.
Playing live is not something these people can do, rather, they
mime/lip-sync to the tapes (sorry, digitally enhanced PCM recordings!),
whilst leaping about on stage trying to look something like the video
which all their "fanbase" have seen on the television.
I think that the "spice girls" were an interesting case in point,
afairc, making more money from merchandising than they did from vinyl/cd
sales.
So, what the BPI/RIAA are selling is a fashion accessory to teenaged
girls. This is quite separate from music written by imaginative
composers, and performed by talented musicians. The BPI would like to
kill the latter, because they can't control it.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
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