FTA:
At the top of all this is the rigged, outdated, and unfair structure of current intellectual property laws, all of them in need of massive reform in the wake of the digital era. These laws allow the labels to maintain their stranglehold on music copyrights, and they allow the RIAA to sue the pants off of any file-sharing grandmother they please. Since the labels are owned by giant corporations with a great deal of money, power, and political influence, the RIAA is able to lobby politicians and government agencies to manipulate copyright laws for their benefit. The result is absurdly disproportionate fines, and laws that in some cases make file sharing a heftier charge than armed robbery. This is yet another case of private, corporate interests using political influence to turn laws in the opposite direction of the changing values of the people.
This is set to be the biggest issue facing the new millennium, an epic struggle of freedom and human culture versus the interests of capitalism. Unfortunately, those who stand to lose the most have the least ability to shape the public discourse surrounding the real issues at stake: power, control, and access to culture outside of a capitalistic economy.
For those green artists new to the beast of the culture industries, I always direct them to the sobering article written by legendary producer Steve Albini, The Problem With Music. This should be Rock n' Roll/Music Business 101 introductory text. Enough with the dreams of fame and stardom; the road to success is about as dirty as it gets. Albini's not exaggerating the least bit when he says that "Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit."
And if Albini's insights aren't enough to convince the budding rock star that there's a filthy future in the biz, the biggest losers being the artists themselves, Courtney Love weighs in on the subject with similar conclusions. To her, the real criminals are not the pirates, but instead the greedy record companies who fuck the artists and have the gall to turn around and call music lovers "thieves."
So kudos to bands like Radiohead, Trent Reznor and Saul Williams for having the courage to try something that flies in the face of the biz's conventional wisdom. They are the true entrepreneurs. With a little bit of innovation and creativity, we all might just be able to come up with new ways of promoting the arts without screwing the artists, all while bringing the palaces of elite media corporations crashing to the ground.
