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> It's not worth thinking about that till it's about to happen. Most folks caught behind when everyone else is up front taking advantage of this are probably thinking that as well. > Even then, I'll wager that the two strategies still won't work without some > radical changes in technology (goodness that's not going to happen, is >it? > :>) Yep. Think about this, then. In four years, someone selects a list of songs to be burned onto a CD or its equivalent - whereupon the vendor-in-question, who doesn't keep inventory beyond the traditional stuff, makes a multiple request to other vendors - the distributors publishing houses or (gasp!) the artists who own the recording and pub rights, to not only get permission to burn their songs/etc., but process payment as well. The purchaser gets more of what he/she wants, and the artists/owners of the work get paid more. Why? Because there aren't a legion of middlemen leeching off the process as if they were a necessary transaction. > >> If you intend to get paid for your music: > >> > >> a. send out demos and try to sign up with an established label who can > >promote you or, > >> b. go out and be a starving musician playing in little clubs to get > >attention > > > >...This would seem to be more of the same. I'm sure quite a lot of >folks > in > >the established music biz would prefer it if we all just went away, or > >signed up with them as if it were the only way to do business. > > Errm, maybe they're right? You grew up in LA, didn't you? I can't imagine anyone subscribing to such foolishness unless they're already making money off it, or just don't know any better than to believe what everyone tells you. > I'm not in the music bix, I'm in the internet biz. I'm telling you it > doesn't look good from this end either. Sorry, but that's how I see it. That's a bit like looking through binoculars from the wrong end, isn't it? > Ermm, exactly how are you going to get your music differentiated from all > the crap out there? How people going to find your music? The publicity end of this is still in process-of-formation, evidenced by the ongoing existence of rudimentary (and ineffective) modes of advertising on the Web. Like Banners. > Also, people's tastes are changing thanks to the massive amount music > available to them all of a sudden. I'm not talking about their stylistic > habits, but how they treat music. It's becoming more disposable :< >there's > so much good stuff out there (as well as the crap), that there's no need to > stick to one thing. Why read the same book every time you go to the library, > if there are a kazillion other >good< ones to read? Still, there's been more > interesting music around than I'll ever have time to enjoy since before I > was born. The difference now is that niches and styles are exploding - You know, the status quo bunch were pretty much saying the same thing 10, 20, 30, and 40 years ago. So what else is new? > This reminds me of something that happened in the video gaming industry, on > a smaller scale. When Doom came out, the first set of levels were sent >out > free. It was a stroke of genius - video game crack. The first one's free... > But soon every gaming mag came with a cd, of all the first levels of >every > game to come out. Suddenly (and there were a lot of other things >involved, > such as sudden over-saturation, which is a topic that deserves it's own > thread, related to the music biz and online music) the market took a hit >- > so many people bought magazine and played the 50 demos for a couple of > bucks, instead of buying one game for 50. And you don't see folks in the arcades anymore either. Imagine that! One can't treat the game market like the music market in any event - the elements involved aren't like Apples / Oranges, but they're different enough not to be comparable in their effects. If I need to elaborate upon this, please say so! In the long run, if one wants to obtain ones aims in whatever milieu they're in, it just doesn't pay to consider negatives unless they're something that really exist, as you coined, Now. Otherwise I suppose it's quite a struggle just to play an instrument. Stephen Goodman * It's the free Loop Of The Week! EarthLight Productions * http://www.earthlight.net/Studios.html * (Hear the NEW "Star Spangled Banner" here!)