Bleh, you can point fingers and make judgments about intentions.
There are certain things back decades ago that you could point and say "oh the man did this...the man did that".
In some ways, things are better, in some ways things are worse. There was never a "golden era" to be a musician.
One could easily argue (from whatever perspective) that since our society has developed and technology has vastly improved, we've convenience/high-speed lifestyle for values/norms and an overall focus. What's that term again? Anomie? Overall, society is very scattered, no clear direction, which fucks up the musical scene pretty good as well as produces a lot of self-taught "experts" which lead to a diminished importance of music as a function in society.
There's always going to be "big music". It's role will be vastly diminished until there's one "Wal-Mart" company standing. It seems like that Live Nation will dominate that market. On the positive, artists can retain most or all of their profit while becoming self-automating and dependent of big business. However this is done with the snail-like speed of progress. It's hard to mix a record properly. It's hard to be self-automating. It's hard to gain a large fanbase without outside help and a large budget. So in short, one shouldn't demonize big business. Live Nation isn't Wal-Mart, it's not fucking up the economy. The bigger big business gets, the larger the gap between them and the common people and the greater the possibility for the rebels/kids to do "their own thing" like Sean Fanning did with Napster, etc., etc. So in a way, we NEED a big corporate giant.
The goal is still to be "a big rock band" that makes great music, they just want to change the means of getting there.
So it's an interesting time in music, yes, but at the same time it's a scary and boring time in music. Artists with money from a gone era like GN'R, etc., need to be leading the charge into this new era. But then again, the trouble is the issue of focus. Or lack thereof....
Where do we go from here? Do we give music out free? Why? What's wrong with paying for music? Okay, $10 is too much for a CD, fair enough. But what's the price? Who sets the price? Why should I pay X dollars for a CD I don't know will be good? Because a lack of values?
There are a lot of questions to be answered, but one thing that is definite and for certain: FANS WANT ACCESS and DIALOGUE with the ARTISTS. No, NEED access with their favorite artists. Not only is it a fruitful business model, but it is good for the overall health of music. The more self-automating bands become, the more they need to rely on their fanbase.
So maybe it's the Vodka on the Rocks, but this seems long winded. I need to organize some of this shit, but I think there's some wisdom in there somewhere.
