I’ve written this out many a time before… but it still bears repeating…
The music biz works likes this…
(1) Creativity and Artistic Vision.
(2) Recording and Production.
(3) Distribution and Packaging.
(4) Marketing and Awareness.
Obviously, Point (1) is in the hands of the artist themselves and them alone.
Point (2) is a grey area. Within reason, $50K of gear can make a pretty impressive album these days. But when push comes to shove, a truly magnificent album still requires the “million dollar studio” - and the reason for this is because the absolute best of the best like to record with unbelievably expensive, and rare microphones from the 50’s and 60’s. Such studios offer that sort of equipment, along with other classic instruments from the period and it’s all part of the package, as it were.
Point (3) is where the existing RIAA business model is falling short by the farthest. It’s just a fact that more CD pressing plants exist now than ever before, and as such, the sheer economics of scale mean that actually producing a professional silver background CD costs (when dones en masse) as little as 38 cents these days - and that includes all the liner notes and various other printing requirements. By this standard, vinyl LP’s were FAR more expensive to make if truth be known.
Point (4) - Marketing and Awareness… ahhhh… now we’ve reached the REAL CRUX of the matter.
You see, the world is full of magnificent music which never became famous. There is probably a million hours of it by now. Various songs and recordings which, in isolation, were probably as good as bits of “Abbey Road” or “Let it Bleed” etc.
Consider, my American friends, for a moment the band Powderfinger. Their last album here in Australia (I’m pretty sure) was the biggest selling rock album of all time down here. 1 in 20 Australians bought a copy. That’s a huge market insertion. You might know some of the songs - “My Happiness” for example. Gorgeous songs - rich, luscious songs played with magnificent feel and sensibilities etc.
And yet, they couldn’t even crack a nut in the USA. And it wasn’t due to lack of talent either. The list of American musos who wax lyrical about Powderfinger is seemingly endless.
So why couldn’t Powderfinger (who is but one recent example of this incredibly huge pool of examples) even crack a nut in the USA? Quite simply, their Record Label down here in Australia simply couldn’t afford the minimum of $300,000 US which was needed to get the song paid for to go on to Clear Channel’s playlists. Their Label has stated that, after tallying up all the costs which were necessary to get even one song on EVERY USA rock station (which meant more than just Clear Channel) that it was going to cost $520,000 US - which at the time was $780,000 AUS and it was simply WAY too expensive.
Hence, this great band who write epic rock masterpieces with strong overtones of The Beatles etc are still basically unknown within the USA.
And THAT is why the RIAA is so incredibly vicious about protecting their turf you see.
Everybody raves on and on and on about the evil RIAA etc. In reality, the RIAA should actually be referred to as the STUPID RIAA because they’ve actually brought their own fate upon themselves. It’s generally accepted now that to get just one new song onto playlists nationwide on just Clear CHannel alone costs at least $300,000 US. This is an instituionalised form of payola which is expedited through mediums known as “Independant Music Distributors” and in essence, the RIAA has resigned themselves to a fate of having to exist in a symbiotic relationship with THEIR masters - namely the US Commercial Radio monopolies.
Accordingly, the RIAA now believes, quite justifiably, that they spend billions of dollars per year making certain songs famous each year - and that is hard bought market awareness. From their point of view, people who download those songs for free are doing so without ever compensating the RIAA for the massive payola they had to pay for in the first place.
In short, the current music landscape in the USA is rotten to the core. FM radio remains king to this day, in terms of making a given song a true classic for the ages. MTV might take care of the image aspect, but at a musical level FM radio remains king. But the only tunes which make FM radio now are those which have had massive amounts of payola forked out because that’s the blackmail which the major Networks now wield. Accordingly, only “safe bets” make it on the airwaves now.
As a result, there is simply a mountain of great music which America is no longer hearing anymore. Don’t believe me? GO and look at your charts. Look and see how few, how little music is being made from outside of the USA. Compare it to 30 years ago when the USA FM Radio scene was free of payola and DJ’s were free to play music based purely on merit.
So, my point is this… it matters not whether file sharing is moral, or not moral. It matters not whether iTunes is a good thing, or a passing thing. What counts, what really, REALLY counts is that the USA has sealed itself into an insular cocoon where little if any outside music gets in anymore - and as such, you’re missing out on so much wonderful music - it’s incredible actually. And the bottom line is this - if you don’t know about it, you won’t download it.
