Just in case you guys don’t keep up with the comments in Nathan’s blog, (and because it kind of ties in with my last post), I’m posting the comment I just made over there about how I wouldn’t care too much if filesharing does actually end up bankrupting the record industry as we know it.
I’d love for the financial motivation that churns out a lot of the crap that we get these days to dry up and to be left only with authentic musicians who aren’t doing what they do to be the next big whatever, but just because they have something to offer, and they’re going to do it whether there’s a chance of making a million bucks or whether it costs them out of their own pocket because they’re passionate about what they want to say/give. Sure, a lot of it wouldn’t be as “polished”, and there would still be a decent percentage of stuff that a lot of people won’t like, but at least more of it would be “real”, whatever that might mean.
Not only would it be great for the independents out there, but even the “big” bands could probably do a lot of stuff that they either can’t get away with on their current label, or at least aren’t willing to risk.
Especially with technology advancing like it has in the area of digital audio recording, I think that there is less and less of a need for help with stuff like studio time in a decent studio, so all the record labels really have to offer artists these days is marketing. I could certainly live in a world where the marketing was left to the fans sharing the music they like with their friends, in person or online.
Sure, this would put a bit of a crimp on the cash flow of the big artists currently, but they would always have live show & merchandise sales, as well as people (like you guys) who like the physical albums. It won’t make up the difference, but I’m pretty sure that any band or artist who would stop making music altogether if there wasn’t a possibility of a lucrative label contract is a band/artist that I can live without hearing.
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responded on my blog.