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Economists call this rent, or rentierism. The extraction of value not by producing anything new but by squeezing what has already been produced. Actually creating new stuff entails risks and overheads; extracting rents just requires a small army of lawyers and some posh offices. That's 21st Century capitalism for you - all gain, no risk!
Philip. --On 07 September 2012 11:33 +0200 Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com> wrote:
"The old business model" was based on the fact that records sold well. This made it possible for a record label to organise tours that did not make any money except for the money generated as future record sales generated by the concerts. Funnily many of today's musicians see touring as "the new business model" and you can in fact make money from it if you keep costs down and plan it as a business that has to make ends meet. Not that the economy in D-I-Y touring has grown better, it is rather like it's what we have left after the decline of the CD market. The few times I've been able to cram gigs into a tour, like for example playing 20 times in a 30 days span, I have always come out with enough money to buy a great new instrument (since I tend to keep some on-the-side job too, thus not having to put all the touring money into food and rent). As I read that article on Fripp he was quoted saying he is giving up making music to focus on the business. I understood that as he is becoming his own management to keep following up legal rights to his music of the past. Reminds me of the tendency among record labels to stop seeking out new great music in favor of focusing on dealing with the legal rights to their back catalogue. What new will ever come to a world where every one just keeps suing everyone else? The daily life of any professional musician is about 90 percent administration and 10 percent music making. Maybe Fripp just got bored with the admin side not being handles well (by whatever management he used to work with) and thinks he can do it better by himself? Greetings from Sweden Per Boysen www.perboysen.com http://www.youtube.com/perboysen On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 10:59 AM, Stephen Goodman <spgoodman@earthlight.net> wrote:That's a matter of choice. I've been thinking a lot about whether 'touring' is a leftover construct of an old business model forced upon performers by the big music companies, promoting the music created by artists, but providing not a heck of a lot of income to them. On many levels this just keeps the performer busy, while someone else reaps the rewards the performers deserve... and guaranteeing a continued existence for dinosaurs to continue deal with material produced by others. I'm not sure I want to cooperate with such an idea myself. I don't understand why anyone but a gearhead would be interested in watching me twiddle settings and performing as such. My definition of the art involves using video works that accompany my music; I think it's more interesting and most importantly it's my art, which compromises to nothing but broadband speed, my own time, and equipment maintenance. I'm sure many folks on this list enjoy the process of live performance, but you have to include the elements of takedown-setup, stolen-damaged instruments and equipment, iffy venues and operators, lots of schlepping it all around, questionable nutrition and the inevitable dealing with people who just want to make money off you. It doesn't balance out for me on any level, and stinks of an old business model that only works for a select few who must fill stadiums in order to break even, and charge the people who come to see them criminal amounts of money for a ticket. I think the old business model's been dead a few years already. We DON'T have to follow it any more in order to produce, record, or sell our own material. But that's just the opinion of someone who's gotten a new start in life, and can't afford at 55 to mess with 'touring' as such. From: Gareth Whittock Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 1:33 AM To: loopers-delight@loopers-delight.com Subject: RE: Fripp news So he's giving up making music today over the release of music he made decades ago. Many of artists work for little or no financial reward because that is their raison d'etre. Seems odd to me. G Gareth Whittock, sound artist: garethwhittock.co.ukTo: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com From: revfever@ubergadget.com Subject: Fripp news Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2012 20:40:28 -0700 Intense. But, I'll wager he will back to making music after a certain period of time. How could someone like him not do so? :-) http://www.dprp.net/wp/?p=7155 Cheers- Rev.Fever Portlandia http://www.spiritone.com/~rvfever http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/elemental1 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/elemental2 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/skult