INVISIBLE ARTERIES was just taken down today by Blogger, with the ominous tagline: "Blog has been removed." The blog police have arrived and crashed the party. It started me on a philosophical debate in my head. As an avid music fan (my life and work are dedicated to it), I've shared and downloaded thousands upon thousands of bands/artists. Sharing it is a window into your subconscious tastes, churning desires, and artistic sensibilities. Having a music blog is like having hundred of mixtapes stashed in your backpack to hand out to strangers on the street, but it is much more powerful then that outdated analogy. It's also easy to forget that there are artists slaving away, putting their hearts and souls into their music while working their minimum wage subsistence job. You could argue that without internet downloading, there would be more people buying music, therefore all artists would be lifted out of their relative monetary squalor. But, I'm not so sure. The bands just starting out would have to work much harder to get noticed and it would change the underground music economy, taking the power away from the consumers and placing it more firmly in the hands of labels and industry. For me, downloading music has been the gateway into hundreds of my favorite bands. When I like a band, I buy their records (I have a lot of LPs), I buy their t-shirts, I pay to see them live (unless I'm doing sound for them). In all but the first instance (unless the band is very DIY which so many of my favorite bands are), my money is almost entirely being contributed in direct support of the band. There is an underground music economy, bands and fans all feeding into a closed loop system, with very little corporate involvement and interference. I argue very strongly in favor of free music sharing because DIY and underground bands would have a much harder time disseminating their music and gaining fans. Indeed, many of my favorite artists would have remained anonymous to me, if Napster, Kazaa, torrents, or blogs had never existed. Free internet sharing has enriched my life and I feel like it enriches underground culture in general. Freedom of information-spread digitally throughout the world-has ushered in a new revolution of human consciousness and music downloading is inexorably linked to that revolution. Viva musica, viva libertad!
AUDIO ONLY (MP3)
As a minimum wage worker - free downloads are my life. Without them I would never be able to expose myself to new bands. In the past six months I have been introduced to so many new bands that I would never have come across. There are still numerous people who strictly buy music via LP or CD and the occasional itunes download. But that method is so limiting. First of all there are many artists out there that are so obscure the average joe will not be able to find it at any run of the mill music store or on itunes for that matter. And music blogs such as - Invisible Arteries will be sorely missed for all the music nerds out there. And it marks a distinguishing point in the future of free music on the internet. Nothing is free forever in a capitalist society after all... A sad but true fact. ¡La musica es la comida de mi alma!
ReplyDeleteGreat post... Invisible Arteries and Cosmic Hearse will be missed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, every one who plays music knows bands only make money playing shows and touring, not from record sales.
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