Updated: 12.9.2007
Myspace is a wonderland of connectivity, especially for music (and a place where Rupert Murdoch can keep his eye on you). BUT, Now, due to the all-knowing antiques, we all know as record labels, full versions of songs on Myspace are banned for any artist under Universal Music Group, and have been changed to 90 second previews. Fascism?
Even though we’ve known this for awhile, the deal is: get a label deal, lose your art, become a source of income for some suit that listens to yanni and kenny g.
On this note, I quote the GZA:
” First of all, who’s your A&R
A mountain climber who plays an electric guitar
But he don’t know the meaning of dope
When he’s lookin for a suit and tie rap
that’s cleaner than a bar of soap
And I’m the dirtiest thing in sight
Matter of fact bring out the girls and let’s have a mud fight”
GZA is clowns. no diggity, no doubt.
Update: 12.7.2007
Wired interviewed Doug Morris, Chair and CEO of Universal Music Group. Doug, like the record industry itself, is full of contradictions. First he says:
“People never really understand what’s happening to the artists.”
And than he’s going to do this:
“UMG labels would selectively choose which songs (or albums or artists) were sold on iTunes, rather than granting blanket access to the entire catalog.”
And he does this:
“Licensing of videos to Web sites now nets Universal more than $20million annually. “
And he thinks this:
“Morris has never accepted the digital world’s ruling ethos that it’s better to follow the smartest long-term strategy, even if it means near-term losses. As far as he’s concerned, do that and someone, somewhere, is taking advantage of you. Morris wants to be paid now, not in some nebulous future. And if there’s one thing he knows how to do, it’s use the size of his company to get his way. ”
So, this guy, crying for the artists, is just worried about his own buck. Why wouldn’t an artist want the free, easy, international exposure of Myspace? Why wouldn’t an artist want their music on iTunes (by far the largest digital music retailer)? Record companies are old news. They are getting in the way of the consumer, the artist, and the music.
Distribution and marketing is no problem. Napster solved it back then, and now, there are more companies, pirates, and exposure opportunities on the internet than you can shake your 21$ 50 cent CD at. How do we, as consumers, and they, as artists, cut this middle man out? Actually, the first rumblings of change from innovative thinking by Radiohead, peer2peer sharing, and independent music review sites.
